President Hugo Chavez's left-wing party and the growing opposition shared the spoils of Venezuela's local elections as they jostled for political momentum in the OPEC nation on Monday.
Chavez's socialist allies won a clear majority of state races but the multi-party opposition dented his dominance of regional posts, wrenching from him control over some of Venezuela's most populous areas including the capital Caracas.
The results of Sunday's elections could make more challenging Chavez's goal of changing the law to run for re-election in 2012, especially after the opposition defeated that move last year in a referendum.
Allies of the anti-U.S. president won 17 of 22 states, officials said, despite widespread voter complaints the government has done too little to control some of the world's worst murder rates and Latin America's highest inflation.
The opposition held onto the two states it won at the last regional elections four years ago, appeared to pick up three more including the heavily populated state metropolitan area around Caracas and won the mayoralty of the capital.
The national election authority said on Sunday two of those states were too close to call. But local count officials said Chavez allies lost in both states and the opposition claimed slim victories, according to media, politicians and one regional vote officer. The overall mixed results triggered a public relations battle as each side fought to seize the momentum by persuading Venezuelans it was the victor in an election where a high 65 percent of voters cast ballots.
The outcome of the post-election tussle could determine whether Chavez has enough backing to realize his re-election ambitions or follow through on threats to spread nationalization by seizing assets from landowners or food companies. Chavez, who had campaigned frenetically saying his political future was at stake, claimed victory.
In office since 1999 and popular for spending freely on the majority poor, the man who calls former Cuban President Fidel Castro his mentor vowed to press his drive toward socialism despite plummeting income from Venezuela's main export, oil.
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