Venezuelans vote on 'Chavez for life'

Venezuelans voted in a tightly contested referendum yesterday on whether to allow left-wing President Hugo Chavez to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections or hand him his first defeat at the polls.

The anti-American firebrand, who has easily won one election after another against a fragmented opposition, is in the hardest campaign of his life as he moves to deepen his self-styled revolution by reforming the constitution.

He predicts he will win by 10 percentage points but most polls show a neck-and-neck race between backers of the referendum.