Today's Stories: Venezuelan opposition rejects Chavez's victory Venezuelan referendum held smoothly with high turnout Dominican Republic's ex-leader returns to helm today

Summoned by bugle calls and the detonations of huge firecrackers, Venezuelans turned out in unprecedented numbers Sunday to vote on whether to force leftist President Hugo Chavez from office. The first recall vote for a president in Venezuela's history is aimed at putting a lid on years of often violent political unrest and came after a lengthy and complicated process of mass signings of petitions.

"We firmly and categorically reject the result ... we're going to collect the evidence to prove to Venezuela and the world the gigantic fraud which has been committed against the will of the people," opposition leader Henry Ramos Allup told a news conference.

Two of the five National Election Council (CNE) directors announced they disagreed with the results because the ballots had not been properly audited.

"One cannot consider as official the partial results which part of the CNE leadership wants to announce," said Sobella Mejia, one of the council's officials.

The CNE had announced earlier that President Hugo Chavez won a referendum on his mandate with 58.25 percent of the electorate voted for him to remain in office.
 

Venezuelan referendum held smoothly with high turnout
The recall referendum held on Sunday on the mandate of President Hugo Chavez, which features a high voter turnout, have gone largely smoothly in spite of sporadic violence and several casualties.

To accommodate the mass voting participation, the electoral authorities have twice extended the voting hours and the voters will have until midnight (0400 GMT Monday) to express their views on whether to recall the president.

Voters began to line up outside polling stations at dawn on Sunday to take part in the historic vote, which is monitored by hundreds of international observers, including those from the Organization of American States (OAS) and the nonprofit Carter Center.

"This is the largest turnout I have ever seen," former President Jimmy Carter, who is helping monitor the vote, was quoted by the press here as saying. "There are thousands of people in line, waiting patiently and without any disturbance."

Officials planned to release preliminary results hours after the polls close if one side takes a clear lead.

The election commission has ruled that it is the only authority responsible for releasing polling figures. Exit polls are banned.

The peaceful development in the voting process has been recognized by the country's opposition coalition.

Head of Venezuelan Democratic Coordination (CD) Enrique Mendoza said it "is perfectly under way" and there have only been cases of delays caused by the fingerprint-identification machines.

The oppositionist asked his followers to demonstrate patience and wait in line for their turn to cast ballots in spite of being tired.

"Let's have patience. We are at the end of a long road that has demanded lots of work, so we cannot give up now. We got to stay in the queues and cast our vote," Mendoza said.

Also, he said that, regardless of the delay, no inconveniences have occurred, so he said that "if nothing happens, let's not start creating problems."
 

Dominican Republic's ex-leader returns to helm today
Four years after stepping down as the Dominican Republic's president, Leonel Fernández returns today, promising improvements as the Caribbean nation suffers its worst economic crisis in decades.

Economists warn that a turnaround will require painful sacrifices. Fernández's government inherits $6 billion in foreign debt, worsening power outages and a desperation among the poor that is driving thousands to risk illegal voyages by boat to the wealthier U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

U.S. authorities have intercepted more than 7,000 Dominicans trying to reach Puerto Rico in the past 10 months.

Last week, authorities rescued 39 Dominicans who drifted for 10 days after their motorboat broke down on the way to Puerto Rico. Forty-seven others disappeared at sea -- many of them jumping overboard in desperation -- and eight died of dehydration after being rescued.

Fernández, whose 1996-2000 term as president was marked by an economic boom, trounced incumbent Hipólito Mejía in the May election after promising a return to stability.

But economists say that cannot happen quickly, given 16 percent unemployment, 32 percent inflation and a Dominican peso that has lost half its value against the dollar in two years, doubling prices in the import-dependent Caribbean nation of 8.8 million people.

''This crisis will last at least two years and will be painful,'' said Miguel Ceara-Hatton, an economist with the U.N. Development Program in Santo Domingo.

Economists say a turnaround requires steep tax increases and spending cuts, meaning fewer social services, government jobs and subsidies for electricity and gas.

Fernández is expected to present a blueprint for such changes in his inaugural address this morning. So far, he has been mum on details.

More than a dozen heads of state and ex-presidents are scheduled to attend, including former President Carter and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Fernández left office in 2000 because of a single-term limit that later was rescinded. He stepped down amid a scandal involving $100 million that allegedly disappeared from a government fund. He denied wrongdoing, but successor Danilo Medina was defeated easily by Mejía in 2000.

Many Dominicans now say they are frustrated with Mejía, who blamed his troubles on a tourism lull after the Sept. 11 attacks and on a 2003 bank scandal that cost the treasury $2.2 billion.

One key obstacle for Fernández will be his Dominican Liberation Party's minority in Congress.

He has backed a proposal to raise taxes 10 percent to 20 percent on tobacco, alcohol, phone services and international travel, but it has stalled in the Senate, where Mejía's Dominican Revolutionary Party holds 29 of 32 seats.