Venezuela's Capriles to run against Chávez

Youthful state governor Henrique Capriles won Venezuela's opposition primary on Sunday, setting up a potentially close battle with socialist President Hugo Chávez in an October election.

The primary ballot marked a step forward in the historically fractured opposition's decade-long attempts to oust Chavez, whose 13-year rule has galvanized the poor but divided the South American OPEC nation and spooked foreign investors.

Official results showed Capriles won 62 percent of the vote in Venezuela's first-ever opposition primary vote, easily beating out his nearest rival Pablo Perez who took 30 percent.

Perhaps as important as Capriles' victory was the opposition turnout of 2.9 million voters in the poll, considerably above what the coalition had targeted in a sign that Chávez's adversaries have improved their ability to mobilize supporters.

"Who says Hugo Chávez is invincible? We have a saying here: 'every dog has its day'," said Leopoldo Lopez, a high-profile opposition leader who recently joined Capriles' camp after bowing out of the primary race.

"He (Chávez) can't be very happy, I think he's seeing himself in the pages of history."

Capriles, 39, hopes his energetic style and decent record governing Miranda state can help him counter Chávez's vast government spending and popularity among the poor.

In a sign of opposition unity, which will be crucial for their effort to unseat Chávez, Pérez immediately vowed to back Capriles.

Chávez supporters, however, were quick to dismiss the results, noting that the total turnout in Sunday's ballot was only a fraction of the country's 18 million registered voters.

They say the opposition represents an old, discredited political elite who paid scant attention to the poor majority in the past and will never beat the president. Polls show that Chávez, a former soldier, has an edge as the campaign begins to heat up.

Information Minister Andres Izarra said on his Twitter account that the 2.9 million voters on Sunday were less than the number they had mobilized to request a 2004 recall referendum that Chavez ultimately beat out.

"Now let's hope they recognize Chávez's victory on Oct. 7," he wrote.