Venezuelans vote today in the country’s first-ever presidential primary to choose a single candidate to face President Hugo Chavez in an October election.
Miranda state Governor Henrique Capriles Radonski leads opposition candidates, according to polls. He was backed by 61 percent of those surveyed, compared with 16 percent for Pablo Perez, the governor of Zulia, and 5 percent for lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, according to a survey by Caracas-based polling company Datanalisis.
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| Venezuelan candidate of the opposition Democratic Unity coalition for the upcoming primary elections, Henrique Capriles Radonski, delivers a speech during press conference in Caracas on Feb. 7, 2012. Photographer: Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty |
Capriles, 39, whose Jewish grandfather arrived in Venezuela from Poland after fleeing Nazi persecution and founded the local unit of East Hanover, New Jersey-based Nabisco Inc., has set up more than 70 free health clinics in poor neighborhoods of Miranda state and provided subsidized food to low-income families. He has waged a campaign based on creating employment through forging alliances between the public and private sectors.
To contact the reporters on this (abridged) story: Charlie Devereux in Caracas at cdevereux3@bloomberg.net; Jose Orozco in Caracas at jorozco8@bloomberg.net
