Mexico party complains of Chavez election influence

MEXICO CITY, Mar 11 (Reuters) Mexico's ruling party complained to electoral authorities that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was helping a leftist candidate's campaign for the presidential election in July.

President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, or PAN, says US foe Chavez may be giving financial aid to left-wing front runner Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a charge the Mexican left hotly denies.

The PAN, trailing in opinion polls, yesterday asked the Federal Electoral Institute watchdog to look into claims Venezuela is interfering in the election campaign. Mexican law prohibits foreigners from taking an active role in domestic politics.

''We presume there is indeed a link between Hugo Chavez and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and that this link is not only ideological and political but that it has passed into the economic field,'' said PAN spokesman Cesar Nava.

The Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico could not be reached for immediate comment.

Reforma newspaper said yesterday Caracas was paying for scores of residents of a southeastern town who have eye problems to travel to Venezuela to receive medical care.

The town, Felipe Carrillo Puerto, is run by Lopez Obrador's Party of the Democratic Revolution, or PRD.

The PAN says Venezuela has also set up groups of sympathizers in Mexico to help Lopez Obrador, who leads opinion polls by between 5 and 9 points.

''The only thing they haven't accused us of is eating children,'' PRD spokesman Gerardo Fernandez told Reuters.

''It is part of a dirty campaign where in the classic style of the right they want to link us with armed groups, extreme groups and foreign financing and accuse us of scaring off investors,'' he said.

Chavez, a former army officer, is frequently at odds with Washington but the Mexican left has been careful not to antagonize the United States, where Mexico sends around 90 per cent of its exports and millions of migrants.

Opponents fear Lopez Obrador will turn out to be a populist like Chavez if he wins the election, but the Mexican candidate rejects comparisons to any Latin American leader.

Most opinion polls show PAN candidate Felipe Calderon in second place.

Reuters PG VP0700