Chavez defends candidate blacklist

President Hugo Chavez defended Venezuela's top anti-corruption official on Tuesday for barring roughly 400 potential candidates — most from the opposition — from running in upcoming elections. Chavez railed against his opponents for verbally attacking Comptroller General Clodosbaldo Russian, who has unveiled a blacklist prohibiting some of the opposition's most prominent leaders from participating in November state and municipal elections. 'I urge support for these dignified patriots heading state institutions, and special backing for the republic's comptroller general, Clodosbaldo Russian,' said Chavez, speaking to soldiers and supporters during a military parade. 'He makes decisions in accordance with the law and they attack him.' None of the potential candidates appearing on the list has been formally charged with a crime, but Russian says the law bars people from seeking office while facing corruption probes. The list has prompted an outcry from critics who argue the ban is politically motivated and illegal. Opposition candidates on the list have led street protests and urged the Supreme Court to throw out Russian's list. 'The restrictions are aimed only at politically eliminating the candidates that clearly have the best chances of winning,' said Alejandro Vivas of the opposition Copei Social Christian Party. 'The restrictions are unconstitutional and antidemocratic.' Chavez allies currently control all but four of Venezuela's 23 state governorships and most of its 300 municipal leadership posts. But the socialist leader is still feeling battered from his first electoral defeat last December on a referendum that would have created new forms of communal property and allowed Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely.