New bid to oust Venezuela leader

Opposition groups accuse Chavez of ruining the economy

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has promised to leave office if he loses a possible referendum on his rule.

He was speaking on the eve of a four-day drive by the opposition to gather more than 2.4 million signatures needed to force the vote.

Mr Chavez said he saw the chances of this happening as "almost zero".

Opposition groups accuse President Chavez of behaving like a dictator who has done little to fight rampant crime and a stagnant economy.

Under the Venezuelan constitution, a president may be challenged after serving half of the six-year term.

Let's sign for our children and grandchildren, for our families and for our country Manuel Cova Opposition union leader Venezuela's referendum process

Last September, the country's National Election Council rejected a petition signed by more than three million Venezuelans to call a referendum on Mr Chavez' rule.

The Council said the petition had been rejected because the signatures were gathered months before the mid-point of Mr Chavez's term in office.

Troops

Venezuela is starting to look like a country that is in the middle of a general election, says the BBC's James Menendez from the capital, Caracas.

More than 2,500 signing centres have been set up in schools, parks and on street corners.

About 60,000 troops are being deployed to maintain order and international observers have flown in to keep an eye on proceedings.

The opposition - a loose coalition of politicians, business leaders and trade unions - have called on their supporters to turn out in force, describing this as the Venezuelans' best chance of ousting the president.

"Let's sign for our children and grandchildren, for our families and for our country," said opposition union leader Manuel Cova.

Chavez is confident he would survive a referendum

But President Chavez said he was confident he could beat the latest challenge - coming after a failed coup in 2002 and a general strike earlier this year.

"The opposition should know by now that the possibility of them collecting the signatures is almost zero," he told a press conference.

"If the signatures are collected in a transparent and legal way... then let's go to a referendum. If they beat me in the referendum, then I'll leave."

A peaceful signature drive by the government last weekend, for a referendum to oust 38 opposition deputies, has raised hopes that the event will pass without violence.

The president's supporters praise his efforts to improve health and education - they say he is the first leader in Venezuela to show any concern for the poor.

Vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel said that 7.9 million signatures were collected last weekend during the government's campaign to unseat the opposition deputies, who are blamed for blocking Chavez's reforms.

However, representatives of the governing party later revised this to 2.6 million.

International observers of the weekend's signature collection said it passed off peacefully.

"We have expectations that the coming weekend is going to be exactly the same," Jennifer McCoy, of the Atlanta-based Carter Center, said earlier in the week. "Peace, calm and civility."

In the last few days, both sides have said they will play by the rules and respect the outcome.

But after two years of political turmoil and violence, few expect it to be that easy, our correspondent says.

The results of both signature drives will not be known for a number of weeks.