August 19, 2004 - 6:00 AM

Chavez foes maintain fraud charges

By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leaders say they have given observers evidence of electronic vote
tampering that helped President Hugo Chavez win Sunday's referendum, but are rejecting an audit meant to clear up their fraud
charges.

Observers, led by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and the Organisation of American States, say they have seen no
evidence of vote manipulation so far. But they have agreed to additional checks on a sample of the results.

Opposition leaders on Wednesday refused to take part in the audit because they said it could not properly investigate the
referendum which gave victory to Chavez, a left-wing former army paratrooper first elected in 1998.

They charged at least 500 polling stations out of 12,000 nationwide used voting machines pre-programmed with an artificial
cap to limit the number of votes cast in favour of recalling Chavez.

"We are not going to accept the results until all of these doubts have been cleared up," said opposition leader Enrique
Mendoza. "It doesn't matter how long it takes, we will keep denouncing this every day."

The international community had hoped a clear vote on whether Chavez should step down would end the bitter struggle over
the populist leader's presidency, but the fresh dispute could inflame tensions in the world's No. 5 oil exporter.

National Electoral Council official Jorge Rodriguez on Wednesday rejected the tampering accusations as "irresponsible" and
"criminal" fabrications. "The machines were never reprogrammed," he said.

Even without opposition support, observers on Thursday will begin an audit on 150 polling stations to check electronic vote
tallies against printed confirmation ballots. The checks should end at the latest Friday, officials said.

Firebrand nationalist Chavez has declared his 58 percent victory as a reconfirmation of his "revolutionary" reforms to improve
the lives of the poor. Government officials have also dismissed the fraud charges.

BITTER OUTCOME FOR SOME

Venezuelans turned out in huge numbers for the referendum with around 10 million of nearly 14 million registered voters going
to the polls. The recall effort was led by critics who accuse Chavez of authoritarian rule and manipulating key institutions such as
the courts and the electoral council.

But the outcome left opposition supporters bitter that they failed to oust a president who has already survived a brief coup, a
gruelling oil strike and months of street protests.

Opposition protesters sprayed "fraud", "dirty rats" and "thieves" on the walls of the Caracas office of Smartmatic, the company
that made the electronic voting machines. Military police later arrived to guard the building.

The country has remained generally calm after the vote.

Observers on Wednesday stood by their earlier support of the results, which gave the opposition 42 percent of the referendum
votes.

"The mission established that the majority of the voters chose not to revoke the mandate of President Hugo Chavez," the OAS
said in a statement.