Lawmakers loyal to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday they had won all 167 seats in the National Assembly, after only about one-fourth of eligible voters participated in an election boycotted by the opposition.
Electoral authorities were to present the final tally later on Monday, but Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party said it had secured 114 out of 167 National Assembly seats and that preliminary figures showed its allies had won the rest of the legislature.
Lawmakers backing Chavez say they want to amend the constitution to scrap the two-term limit on presidential re-election and introduce other reforms opponents worry will increase the left-wing former paratrooper's grip on power.
"The year 2006 will be for debate and definition of the themes and then we will certainly put forward proposals in 2007," Nicolas Maduro, Congress president and Chavez ally, told state television.
Most opposition groups stayed home on Sunday after accusing electoral authorities of favouring Chavez and manipulating electronic voting machines despite an earlier agreement to participate in the poll.
The National Electoral Council said turnout on Sunday was 25 percent of registered voters compared with just over 56 percent for the 2000 parliamentary election. Chavez's opponents may use the low turnout to question the parliament's legitimacy.
Chavez's critics say he has grown increasingly authoritarian by taking control of the courts and electoral council. But he has spent billions in oil revenues on projects for the poor as part of his self-styled socialist revolution, and is hugely popular.
TalCual newspaper editor Teodoro Petkoff, who has criticised both the opposition and the government, told Union Radio the election showed a "mega-abstention" and a lack of confidence in the electoral system.
"This process has buried Venezuela's electoral system. This electoral system does not deserve the trust, either of the government's opponents or of its allies," he said. European Union election observers said they would present a preliminary report on the vote on Tuesday.
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