Chavez to accept petition ruling

Chavez accuses the opposition of fraud

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he will submit to a referendum on his rule if election authorities call one.

After talks with former US President Jimmy Carter, Mr Chavez also said he would allow foreign observers to check every detail of the voting process.

"Let them [the opposition] review everything," Mr Chavez said after Monday's talks in the capital Caracas.

Mr Carter urged Venezuelans to trust election officials who are to announce next month whether to call a vote.

Spotlight on Council

Opposition leaders believe the populist president and officials who support him in the National Elections Council will try to block a possible vote in May.

They say they have turned in more than 3.4 million signatures to demand a referendum on whether Mr Chavez should leave office.

Chavez supporters argue that traditional political parties only want to regain the power they lost when the former paratrooper was elected in 1998.

Jimmy Carter's centre backs the Venezuelan referendum process

"I repeated to President Carter... that whatever the National Electoral Council decides, my government will accept it," Mr Chavez told reporters.

"If the Council says there will be a referendum against Chavez, then we'll go to the referendum, I've got no problem with that."

Mr Carter has expressed support for the Council, which has been attacked by both sides.

"The political future of Venezuela rests on their shoulders... They have given us assurances that their decision will be open and transparent," the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner said after meeting the Council's directors.

Carter's Carter Center and the Organization of American States have led international efforts to find a solution to Venezuela's political crisis after an April 2002 coup briefly ousted Mr Chavez.