Venezuelan leader claims 'victory'

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez has claimed victory in the country's legislative elections, in which the opposition bloc made big gains and denied the governing party a two-thirds majority. Chavez declared on Monday, in his first news conference since the vote, that his Socialist party had won most of the votes with 98 seats in the 165-member National Assembly, compared with 65 for the opposition coalition. He claimed his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had won most of the votes - 5,422,040 - while the Unity Table (MUD), a broad coalition of opposition parties, won 5,320,175 votes in Sunday's elections. He said another 520,000 votes won by the leftist Homeland For Everyone (PPT), which broke off from PSUV, could not be included in the opposition tally, as his opponents have done.