December 01, 2006

Abstract: - Hugo Chávez is holding on to the lead in Venezuela's presidential election, according to a poll by Evans/McDonough. 57 per cent of respondents would vote for the incumbent head of state in this Sunday's ballot, while 31 per cent would support Zulia governor Manuel Rosales of A New Time (UNT).

- Hugo Chávez is holding on to the lead in Venezuela's presidential election, according to a poll by Evans/McDonough. 57 per cent of respondents would vote for the incumbent head of state in this Sunday's ballot, while 31 per cent would support Zulia governor Manuel Rosales of A New Time (UNT).

Chávez has been in office since February 1999. In July 2000, he was elected to a six-year term with 59.5 per cent of all cast ballots. In August 2004, Chávez won a referendum on his tenure with 59 per cent of the vote. The special election was called after opposition organizations in Venezuela gathered 2.5 million signatures to force a recall ballot.

The presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 3. In December 2005, Venezuelan voters renewed their National Assembly. The pro-Chávez Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) secured 114 of the 167 seats at stake. Five opposition parties boycotted the election, which saw a turnout of less than 25 per cent.

Yesterday, Rosales vowed to bring prosperity to Venezuela, declaring, "Foreign and national capital is being scared away, nobody wants to invest here because there is no respect for private property. This is a country where there is no security of any kind, where all we have is a violent and threatening discourse."

Polling Data

Who would you vote for in the presidential election?

	Nov. 25	Nov. 3
Hugo Chávez (MVR)	57%	57%
Manuel Rosales (UNT)	38%	35%
Benjamín Rausseo (Piedra)	--	1%

Source: Evans/McDonough
Methodology: Face-to-face interviews with 2,000 Venezuelan adults, conducted from Nov. 19 to Nov. 25, 2006. Margin of error is 2.2 per cent.