Venezuela presidential election: Poll shows Hugo Chavez lead over Henrique Capriles narrows

Hugo Chavez’s lead over Henrique Capriles ahead of the Venezuelan presidential election on Oct. 7 has narrowed to 10 percentage points from 15 percentage points, Bloomberg reported, citing data from Datanalisis.

A voter survey taken between Aug. 25 and Sept. 5 shows Chavez, the sitting president, would have won 47.3 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Capriles' 37.2 percent if the election had been held this month, Reuters reported.

The poll has a margin of error of about two percentage points.

While Chavez maintains a strong lead in most of the country’s polls, Capriles has been narrowing the gap.Voter surveys conducted by well-known pollster, Consultores 21, show the candidates are neck-and-neck. 

The Associated Press spoke to Luis Vicente Leon, a director of Datanalisis, who said Capriles had been a much more active campaigner than Chavez, who underwent more than a year of treatment for an unspecified cancer.

Chavez’s poor health has clearly affected his campaign, said Leon.

But the former soldier claims he is cancer free and he said earlier this month that it was “totally impossible” for him to lose the election.

Capriles has been campaigning in more than 250 towns across Venezuela promising a Brazilian-style "modern left" that balances free enterprise with social welfare programs.

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