Anti-Chavez candidates say they are barred from running

Leopoldo Lopez won his last election as mayor of an affluent Caracas district with 81 percent of the vote. Women supporters mobbed him at a recent Mother's Day appearance, posing for photos while he and his wife handed out roses. But the popular politician's plan to challenge incumbent Juan Barreto, mayor of Greater Caracas, later this year could be thwarted by 26 criminal charges against him, accusations Lopez says were trumped up by an operative of President Hugo Chavez. He's not alone. Nearly 400 others, mostly opposition politicians, have been barred from running for office in state and municipal elections in November by Venezuela's top anti-corruption official, a close Chavez ally.