In its latest nationwide opinion poll, conducted on June 10-19 in 1,300 respondents, research firm Datanálisis found that rather than the opposition primary election Venezuelans endorse the selection of one single opposition candidate to face Hugo Chávez in next December 3rd presidential election.

In an interview with eluniversal.com, Datanálisis director Luis Vicente León said 32.8 percent -one third- of Venezuelans are to participate in the primaries. But he clarified that such a percentage cannot be estimated as the real turnout.

"Obviously, turnout in the primaries will be significantly lower than that (32.8 percent." He explained that the figures mirror the people's interest in holding the primaries. This means that two thirds of Venezuelans "are neither interested in the primaries nor see the primaries as an attractive event."

He added that 19.4 percent of pro-government respondents said they planned to vote in the opposition primary election, which means that some 12 percent of voters taking part in the primaries would be pro-government voters.

The poll concluded that Venezuelans "do not want the primaries indeed; what they want is to select one single opposition candidate. The message here is that people are not supporting the primary election, but they are actually endorsing a process to select one single opposition candidate."

Regarding vote intention in the presidential election, opposition candidates Manuel Rosales and Julio Borges are in a technical tie with 9 percent and 8.1 percent, respectively.

The overall vote intention for the opposition pre-candidates is 19.3 percent, compared to 55 percent for President Hugo Chávez. León stressed that 45 percent of Venezuelans do not want to vote for Chávez, but only 19.3 percent are to vote for an opposition candidate.