Venezuelans voted in a parliamentary election on Sunday with President Hugo Chavez expected to keep control of the National Assembly in a poll testing his support ahead of a presidential ballot in 2012. Opposition parties in South America’s biggest oil producer are guaranteed to make big gains, however, after boycotting the last legislative election five years ago. The focus is on whether the opposition can take more than a third of the 165 seats up for grabs, which would mean the socialist leader would need support from his foes for major changes to laws or to make appointments to important institutions.
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