Venezuela, Opposition Reach Agreement on Chavez Vote (Update3)

Caracas, May 23 (<a href=quote.bloomberg.com>Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and opposition leaders said they would sign an agreement next week to let an electoral board set the date for a binding referendum on the former army lieutenant colonel's rule.

The 19-point accord, brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General Cesar Gaviria after eight months of talks, pledges both sides to respect the right of the electoral board to set the date and opens the way for international observers to monitor the voting.

``We're very happy that the opposition is assuming a democratic attitude and is trying to convoke a referendum,'' Chavez told Panamericana television station in Peru, where he is attending a regional summit.

A referendum may end two years of protest and strikes by the opposition demanding that Chavez resign or call early elections. Opponents agreed to a binding referendum to be held after August, the midpoint of Chavez's six-year term, after a two-month national strike failed to force a non-binding vote in February.

Polls have indicated that Chavez, who was ousted by the military for two days last year during a failed coup attempt, would lose a referendum. After the strike crippled oil production and consumer spending, the economy fell 29 percent in the first quarter and unemployment rose to 21 percent, both records.

Opposition and OAS officials said last month they had an agreement with the government, only to have Chavez block the accord a day before it was to be signed. The previous version of the agreement set November 19 as the deadline for the referendum.

International Presence

The accord says that the OAS, the Carter Center and the United Nations may provide technical assistance before the vote and observe the referendum.

``We've guaranteed an international presence during the referendum,'' said Alejandro Armas, an opposition negotiator.

Congress earlier this week postponed until next week a vote to choose the five members and 10 alternates of the electoral board, which would administer the referendum.

Opposition congressmen said they objected to government legislators, who hold a narrow majority, picking three of the five board members.

The constitution requires about 2.5 million signatures, or 20 percent of the more than 12 million registered voters, to convoke a referendum. To oust Chavez, the number voting against him must exceed the total that voted him into office in 2000, when he got about 3.7 million votes.

The government and opposition leaders signed an agreement earlier this year pledging to refrain from violence and incendiary rhetoric.

It took Chavez about 24 minutes to break that accord,'' said Francisco Toro, an analyst with research company Veneconomy in Caracas, referring to the president's almost daily speeches. We have more than four years to see that Chavez is not bound by any law, constitution or agreement.'' Last Updated: May 23, 2003 16:57 EDT