Chanting "Chavez! Chavez!" more than 100,000 Venezuelans marched Sunday to support President Hugo Chavez as opponents demanding his recall staged demonstrations in several cities.
Venezuela's National Elections Council said it would decide Sunday on the validity of more than 3.4 million signatures opponents say they submitted to demand the recall vote.
Last week, the council announced it would ask hundreds of thousands of citizens to confirm that they had signed petitions that have technical problems. The decision infuriated opposition leaders, who have urged followers to wage a campaign of civil disobedience.
Oil-rich Venezuela is torn between those who accuse Chavez of trying to impose Cuba-style communism and those who say he has given the poor an unprecedented say in politics.
Officials are asking citizens to verify they signed because they allowed petition organizers to fill in their registration information on forms.
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