Popular Support for Chavez Increases

Caracas, Oct 22. -A new survey showed that 71.3 percent of respondents support the performance of President Hugo Chavez, according to Minister of Communication and Information Andres Izarra.Izarra said the survey, carriedo out from October 11 to 17 by the Venezuelan Institute for Data Analysis (IVAD) reflects an increase of 7.5 points over the previous survey, developed in late September.

The survey also provided 65.7 percent of acceptance to the Government's work in the last 12 years.

Other data published by Izarra show that the United Socialist Party of Venezuela remains in the people's preference.

The Ruling United Socialist Party and its allies have already made Chaves� candidacy official for the election in October 2012, when he hopes to be elected for the third time.

Surveys by various political trends show that over 60 percent of the electorate supports Chavez, who announced the launch of a campaign with the aim of securing 10 million votes in the elections.

These studies also agree that the closest opponent would be Henrique Carriles, with eight percent of support, followed by Paul Perez with six percent and Leopoldo Lopez with three percent. The three politicians formalized their nominations to the primary election in February 2012, when Chavez's opponent for the presidential elections will be elected. (Prensa Latina)