Venezuelans vote to choose Chavez's challenger

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelans lined up to vote on Sunday in the country's first-ever opposition presidential primary, choosing a single challenger they hope will have what it takes to finally defeat President Hugo Chavez after 13 years in office.

Opposition supporters seemed less interested in the proposals put forth by the five candidates competing in Sunday's vote than their chances of defeating Chavez in October's looming presidential election.

The outcome will set the stage for what many are billing as the most anticipated presidential vote since Chavez's first triumph in 1998, and Venezuelans on both sides of the nation's political gap are eager to see who will emerge as the challenger.

"I think this time there will be a change," said Edgar Arvais, a 57-year-old engineer who emerged from a polling station at a school after casting his ballot for Zulia state Gov. Pablo Perez. He said crime and a weak economy are top concerns, and the opposition this time is "very strong, very determined."

Carmen Gloria Padilla, a 66-year-old telephone company employee, said she was voting for the opposition's front-runner, Miranda state Gov. Henrique Capriles.

"He's going to be the candidate who can get us out of this giant hole we're stuck in," Padilla said.

For government foes, the primary results are vital to their efforts to unseat Chavez, an aim for which many have been yearning for more than a decade, and it appears to be a daunting task.

"I don't care who wins," snapped Gloria Muchacho, a 45-year-old housewife who hates when Chavez interrupts her soap operas with hours-long televised speeches that all channels are required to broadcast. "I just want them to get him out, he must go."

Chavez, however, proved himself a tireless campaigner as he easily sailed to election victories in 1998, 2000 and 2006. As the election season heats up, Chavez has said he's itching for a fight.

During public events and marathon televised addresses, Chavez insists it doesn't matter who emerges as the opposition's candidate because he's confident none of his rivals are capable of beating him. He repeatedly taunts would-be challengers, portraying them as agents of Venezuela's wealthy elite and Washington.

"These candidates are the empire's candidates," Chavez told thousands of supporters at a rally this month in Catia, which is a government stronghold. "We are going to give the unpatriotic bourgeoisie a beating."

Many in Catia have benefited from Chavez's social programs, which the government says are improving living conditions for the country's poor majority.