Huge rally in Caracas for Chavez rival before vote

CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov 25 (Reuters) Hundreds of thousands of people marched in Caracas today to back opposition presidential candidate Manuel Rosales as he closed his campaign against President Hugo Chavez, who is favored to win the December 3 vote.

Opposition leaders have frequently called marches to demonstrate the strength of their movement against the left-wing leader, though polls show Chavez ahead by up to 32 points.

Demonstrators along the city's main highway waved Venezuela's red, yellow and blue flag and cheered as Rosales delivered a fiery speech promising victory.

''The real survey, not the ones that have been bought, show that within a few days Venezuela will have a new president,'' Rosales said from a stage mounted on the highway. ''And if that's not enough for them, they need to see this live survey of all of Venezuela,'' he said, pointing to the crowd.

''We have to be here so Chavez will go away,'' said Maria de Abreu, 69, a Portuguese immigrant, sitting in a wheelchair under the intense Caribbean sun. ''He's done nothing good.

That's why I support Rosales.'' Rosales, governor of the oil-rich Zulia state, has promised to address problems like crime and unemployment and redistribute the nation's oil wealth through direct subsidies to families.

Chavez, a former soldier and close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro, has built up strong support among the poor through his well-publicized jabs at the Bush administration and a multibillion-dollar social development campaign.

During the march, he was on the other side of the country inaugurating a new public transit project in Maracaibo, the capital of Rosales' home state.

Critics in Venezuela accuse Chavez, first elected in 1998, of using state institutions to advance his own political interests, while the US State Department calls him as a threat to democracy in the region.

Venezuela, the fourth-largest exporter of oil to the United States, has been at the forefront of Latin America's resurgent Latin American left.

Reuters DH VP0115