CARACAS: Venezuela's traditionally fractured opposition this week began the process of choosing a single presidential candidate to face a weakened but still formidable Hugo Chavez in the 2012 presidential election.
Among those signing up for primaries to be held in mid-February was Henrique Capriles, 39, the popular and telegenic governor of the northern state of Miranda.
Capriles said Wednesday as he presented his candidacy to the umbrella opposition Democratic Unity Table (MUD) that he governed a state "where we have shown that we can govern for everyone ... and that's what we have planned for all of Venezuela."
A recent poll by the firm Datanalisis shows Capriles as the leading opposition candidate with 40 percent support; followed by Leopoldo Lopez with 20 percent; Pablo Perez with 17 percent, and Maria Corina Machado with nearly 6 percent.
Datanalisis director Luis Vicente Leon however warned that campaigning was just "formally" starting, and that Capriles' lead was largely based on name recognition.
Lopez, 40, who has a master's degree from Harvard and experience as mayor of the upscale Caracas municipality of Chacao, signed up Tuesday along with opposition lawmaker Machado.
Chavez tried to exclude Lopez from seeking office, citing alleged corruption in 2005 which the opposition politician denied.
Lopez appealed to the Inter-American Human Rights Court, which upheld his right to seek office. However Venezuela then sent the case to its own highest court, which in mid-October upheld its decision that Lopez is unable to hold public office until 2014.
The Venezuelan government then said Lopez legally could run for president in the current election cycle, but said it could not guarantee that if he were to defeat Chavez in 2012 that he could take office legally.
Other candidates, including the governor of the western state of Zulia, Pablo Perez, are expected to sign up in the next days.
Chavez, who declared himself cancer-free last month after having a tumor removed in June and undergoing several chemotherapy sessions, is seeking a third consecutive six-year term in the October 7, 2012 election.
Chavez, 57, has an approval rating of around 60 percent, even though he has been physically weakened by his bout of cancer.
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