Chavez's Opponents Gear up for Venezuela Vote Outmatched time and again at the polls by President Hugo Chavez, Venezuelan's opposition leaders are trying a new strategy to unseat the populist leader this year, holding the nation's first presidential primary to choose the strongest challenger. The front-runner in Sunday's election is Henrique Capriles, a 39-year-old state governor who has won a large following as a youthful alternative to the 57-year-old Chavez. Capriles, an avid jogger who plays pickup basketball games with supporters, has crowd appeal that makes him a formidable adversary. Sometimes wearing a baseball hat emblazoned with the yellow, blue and red stripes of Venezuela's flag, Capriles has pledged both to help the poor and be a friend to business. He describes himself as a center-left progressive, saying he admires the approach of former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Other contenders range from Pablo Perez, a popular state governor, to Maria Corina Machado, a congresswoman who is the most forceful in her criticisms of Chavez and his effort to bring socialism to Venezuela. Whoever wins the primary is likely to give Chavez the toughest electoral fight of his more than 13 years in office. In the past, Chavez has capitalized on his opponents' mistakes. He saw his popularity grow after a failed 2002 coup, swept a 2005 congressional vote boycotted by the opposition and won re-election in 2006 with 63 percent of the vote. In this photo taken Monday Jan. 30, 2012, presidential opposition candidate Henrique Capriles is greeted by supporters as he leaves a campaign rally in Caracas, Venezuela. In the run-up to the Feb. 12 primary, Capriles, governor of the central state of Miranda, looks like the favorite to face President Hugo Chavez in October. Since then, though, his popularity has slipped as ills such as crime, inflation, and problem-riddled public services have taken a toll. The once-fractured opposition has been emboldened by a strong showing in 2010 congressional elections, and has united to hold the primary vote at a time when polls show Chavez's adversaries have gained ground. "The opposition has never been in better shape to defeat Chavez," said Angel Alvarez, director of the Institute of Political Studies at the Central University of Venezuela. Polls show more than half of Venezuelans still approve of Chavez. But the new batch of opposition challengers are more popular than those who faced Chavez in 1998, 2000 and 2006, Alvarez said. The top three contenders are all under 45 and represent a new generation of anti-Chavez leaders. After three terms as president, Chavez is less able to paint his opponents as part of the corrupt political establishment he once defeated. Capriles comes from an upper middle-class family but has managed to make inroads among the poor, who have traditionally been Chavez's support base, by promoting programs including food and housing assistance as governor of Miranda state, which includes part of Caracas. Capriles also largely avoids direct confrontation with Chavez, seldom mentioning the president by name even when he criticizes him. In a typical jab at Chavez's preferential oil deals with his allies, Capriles told reporters recently: "We aren't going to go around using oil to try to win political loyalties ... because I don't want to be a world leader. I want to be the leader of Venezuela. Capriles' leading rival according to the polls is Perez, the 42-year-old governor of western Zulia state and another fresh face in the opposition. Perez's potential advantages include support in the country's second largest state and the campaign experience of the established Social Christian and Democratic Action parties, which have backed him instead of politicians from within their own ranks.