Rioting spreads in Venezuela as an elections panel rules the opposition lacks the signatures needed to recall President Hugo Chávez.

BY FRANCES ROBLES

CARACAS - Venezuela's National Electoral Council on Tuesday ruled the opposition fell well short in its drive for a recall vote on President Hugo Chávez, striking a blow to efforts to force out the controversial populist.

The ruling refueled violent opposition protests that have wracked Caracas for days. Demonstrators burned tires and hurled rocks and gasoline bombs earlier in the day as National Guardsmen patroled several cities in armored cars.

Council President Francisco Carrasquero said the opposition turned in 3 million signatures -- not the 3.4 million it had claimed -- and only 1.8 million were found to be valid. Some 2.4 million were needed to force the recall vote.

Elections officials wound up voiding 47 percent of the signatures collected, opposition leaders complained.

Up to 1.1 million questioned signatures could be validated if signers confirm their names later this month, the council said. But angry opposition leaders said that would be nearly impossible.

Tuesday's announcement was the latest setback for the opposition, an alliance of political parties, business and labor groups that accuse Chávez of ''Cubanizing'' the nation. After a bitter two-year battle to force him out of power, the recall drive was considered the opposition's last legal chance.

NEXT PHASE

Opposition leaders said they could not accept the next phase: a two-day ''repair'' period where the 1.1 million people whose signatures were set aside for technical reasons will have a chance to verify their signatures. The opposition condemned the ''repair'' period as a hopeless cause intended to block the recall.

''It's practically impossible,'' said opposition leader Julio Borges. 'They are asking us to have another sign-up, for everyone to leave their house again to say, `Yes, I signed.' That doesn't happen in a free country.''

At the heart of the dispute are 876,000 signatures set aside because volunteers helped people fill out their names and ID card numbers on the forms.

The Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which monitored the signature drive, immediately criticized the election board's preliminary rejection of those signatures, saying they observed volunteers helping people in good faith. ''We don't agree with the criteria,'' said Fernando Jaramillo, chief of the OAS mission in the country. ``This decision could affect the result of the process.''

Borges called upon the international observers to push the government to recognize the signatures, despite the technical questions. He denounced the decision as inherently unfair, because it put the burden of proof on the signers.

Critics said it would be logistically difficult to find the specific people whose signatures were rejected and get them to show up to verify.

In response to pressure from the international observers, the elections board, known by its Spanish acronym CNE, more than doubled the amount of verification tables from 1,000 to 2,500 to make the logistics easier.

But the CNE, which has three directors who favor Chávez and two who support the opposition, also cut the number of days allowed for the ''repair'' efforts from five to two.

The delay caused by the repair phase may be critical: if the recall election is not held by Aug. 19, Chávez's loyal vice president would take over.

The government maintains that a vast majority of the signatures are fraud. Many signatures belong to government supporters who deny ever having signed the petition, the government says.

STREET PROTESTS

The announcement came on the fifth day of sporadic violent street protests that spread throughout the nation, forcing the deployment of the National Guard. As soon as the CNE made its decision, many people in middle-class neighborhoods left their homes to bang pots and pans in the street.

Police chief Lázaro Forero said many streets remained closed due to demonstrations peppered with burning tires.

The protests ''are not spontaneous or sporadic, it is a preconceived plan to fill Caracas with violence and to accomplish in Venezuela what happened in Haiti,'' Communications Minister Jesse Chacón said.

But in South Florida, some Venezuelan exile leaders blamed Chávez for forcing the council's move.

''By creating this situation, Chávez is provoking massive violence and the armed forces are probably going to have to suspend constitutional rights to gain control,'' said Carlos Fernández, who has been charged with treason in Venezuela for leading a devastating two-month strike against Chávez last year. He now lives in Weston.

Others worried about relatives and property back home.

''Things are going to get worse,'' said Deanna Belloso, a real estate investor who lives in Miami Shores and whose parents and brothers live in Caracas. ''There is nothing you can do or say, no law you can appeal to,'' said Belloso, who supported the recall effort.

Venezuelan government officials and international observers urged citizens to remain calm in what was feared would become a violent week.

''Violence is not a good advisor,'' said Carrasquero, generally believed to favor Chávez. ``I call for all Venezuelans to accept the arbiter's decision . . . We have no other road to take.''

Herald staff writer Richard Brand in Miami contributed to this report.