Venezuela accused the US government of trying to destabilize the country by supporting an opposition boycott of the weekend's congressional elections.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel alleged that the US Embassy had links to moves by several opposition parties to pull out of Sunday's elections, a claim denied by American officials.

"We're headed toward an electoral strike of a subversive character," Rangel said Wednesday. "We have sufficient intelligence and enough information suggesting that behind the card of not participating there are aims of destabilizing the country."

"Behind it all, the US Embassy has been very active, extremely active," Rangel said, accusing the United States of repeatedly interfering in Venezuela's affairs to try to sabotage President Hugo Chavez's government.

US Embassy spokesman Brian Penn denied it.

"We do not have anything to do with any of the actions of the political parties," Penn said, echoing recent comments by US Ambassador William Brownfield that "the United States is simply not responsible for everything that occurs in Venezuela."

Five opposition parties had officially withdrawn from Sunday's elections, according to Jorge Rodriguez, head of the National Electoral Council, including the largest, Democratic Action, with 23 seats, saying conditions were biased toward Chavez's allies. The most recent party to pull out, First Justice, made it's announcement late Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Social Christian Party, or Copei, has threatened to boycott if the vote isn't postponed to ensure fairness.

Rangel said the election date "won't be moved even one minute," and called the boycotting politicians "coup-plotters and terrorists."

"They're withdrawing now because they don't have votes," Rangel said.

He said that internal government polls projected that only 20 to 30 seats in the 167-member National Assembly would have gone to the opposition. He didn't say how or when the polls were conducted.

Some smaller opposition parties, however, were resisting calls to boycott the elections, saying defecting only played into Chavez's hand.

"The best way we can resist at this moment is to participate in the process," Andres Velasquez, leader of Cause R, told Union Radio.

Directors of the private polling firm Keller and Hinterlaces indicated Wednesday that the withdrawals could push abstention at Sunday's polls to above 70 percent.

The deep rifts appeared to assure pro-Chavez candidates of even greater control of the National Assembly.

Leopoldo Puchi, leader of the small anti-Chavez party Movement toward Socialism, called the boycott a "political error."

Pro-Chavez leaders have said they hope for a two-thirds majority that would help them pass constitutional reforms to deepen the president's socialist "revolution" for the poor. They also say they plan to do away with term limits, a change that would allow Chavez to stay on as president beyond 2012 _ the current limit if he is re-elected next December.

Copei party leader Cesar Perez said his group hoped the electoral council would delay the vote to resolve problems with the computer voting system.

If the vote is not put off, he said, all but one of the party's 32 candidates have agreed to pull out. The party now has six seats in congress.

Electoral Council head Rodriguez said Wednesday that the vote would go ahead as planned.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies December 1, 2005)