Who are Chávez's opponents?

What Venezuelans know best about the opposition is that many of them held power before. During their 40 years of rule, the nation grew into an economic powerhouse, but by all accounts its leaders grew notoriously corrupt and the poor stagnated.

The opposition says that Chávez has been even worse. Since his 1998 election, per capita income has plummeted by 23 percent, unemployment and inflation both now top 20 percent, and there have been numerous charges of corruption against his administration. A study by the Social and Economic Research Institute of the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas shows that extreme poverty in Venezuela nearly doubled between 1998 and 2003. And despite 40 percent gains in oil revenue over the past 5 years, the economy shrank by 9 percent last year, the second consecutive annual decline.

Franklin Fagundez, who hawks CDs on a Caracas sidewalk, worries about crime and vandalism, corruption and unemployment. Still, he's decided to vote for Chávez. "It's not that I like Chávez," he says. "But I don't want those who were [in power] before to return."

Nevertheless, dissatisfaction with Chávez has kept the opposition within striking distance. With high unemployment, sidewalks are crowded with people struggling to get by, renting out telephones and hawking pirated music. Violent crime has soared. Chávez's friendship with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro has frightened away foreign investment. Chávez's incendiary rhetoric has polarized the nation between rich and poor, offended the Catholic Church, and antagonized the country's biggest trading partners, Colombia and the US.

If the opposition replaces Chávez, all of that will change, promises the soft-spoken Henrique Salas Romer, leader of Venezuela Project, a political party, and one of a handful of viable candidates to replace Chávez. "We would be less ideological and far more practical in foreign affairs," he says. "And practical means making friends with your neighbors."

Once in power, most opposition candidates would gratify Washington in other ways, analysts say. The new leaders would most likely drop Chávez's fierce opposition to US-promoted free-trade agreements and abandon his oil policy, which limits production and maintains elevated prices. They also promise not to repeat the human rights violations and arbitrary arrests which took place during the April 2002 coup, which ousted Chávez for two days.

Adam Isacson, an analyst who follows Venezuela for the Center for International Policy in Washington, is dubious. "The opposition has shown no sign that it's about to implement a democratic revolution, respect all positions, and implement a real multiparty democracy," he says.

Do you agree to annul the popular mandate given through legitimate democratic elections to the citizen Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías as president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the current presidential period? 1) No 2) Yes.

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