Chavez Allies Winning at Polls Amid Boycott

Candidates aligned with President Hugo Chavez were expected to win a vast majority of seats Sunday in elections for a new National Assembly as several opposition parties boycotted the polls.

Willian Lara, a leading lawmaker in Chavez’s Fifth Republic Movement, said internal tallies indicated that pro-Chavez candidates could sweep all 167 of the assembly’s seats.

Chavez earlier dismissed the boycott as a failed ploy to sabotage legitimate elections and avoid an embarrassing defeat.

“The whole world knows a true democracy is in motion here in Venezuela,” Chavez said after voting at a school where cheering supporters greeted him outside.

Chavez accused the United States of being behind the boycott -- a charge Washington has denied.

The boycotting parties said they did not trust the voting system. Chavez said Venezuela had the most solid electoral system in the region, and that its integrity was secure despite “attempts to sabotage this process.”

Turnout was estimated at 25%, National Electoral Council chief Jorge Rodriguez said.

Maria Corina Machado, who leads the U.S.-backed election watchdog group Sumate, called the vote “illegitimate.”

“We are going to have a single party parliament that doesn’t represent ample sectors of society,” Machado said.

Government officials say the U.S. has been meddling in the elections through Sumate, which receives money from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, a private group funded by Congress.

Officials and election observers said the voting proceeded peacefully Sunday. The military said it stepped up security at oil installations to prevent any possible sabotage in the country, the world’s No. 5 oil exporter.