VOA标准英语2013--Winner of Venezuela's Presidential Vote Will Face Challenges Ahead

（单词翻译）

Winner of Venezuela's Presidential Vote Will Face Challenges Ahead

Nicolas Maduro, the former union leader who became President Chavez's vice¹ president in 2012, ended his campaign with a massive rally in Caracas.

He has vowed² to continue the socialist³ programs for the poor initiated⁴ by his predecessor⁵. But he has also made a number of unsubstantiated charges that the U.S. and right wing groups may have been involved in poisoning Chavez, trying to assassinate⁶ him and disrupt the election.

Philip Brenner, a professor of international relations at Washington's American University, says he was surprised that Maduro, who is significantly ahead in the polls, felt the need to attack the U.S.

“To make crazy charges [about] being poisoned and about efforts for the U.S. to corrupt⁷ the election without any evidence, he didn't need to make these charges, and I'm surprised he did,” he said.

The opposition⁸ candidate Henrique Capriles, who lost in the presidential election last year to Chavez, held his closing rally in the central city of Barquisimeto. The former state governor has criticized the government's efforts to fight crime and deal with food shortages, double-digit inflation and frequent power outages.

But Manuel Suarez Mier, an economist⁹ at American University, says Capriles has not laid out a clear alternative to Chavez' socialist agenda.

“Everything seems to revolve¹⁰ around Chavez. The opposition to some extent is highlighting the Chavez legacy¹¹, which is a disaster,” said the economist.

Prior to the election, the state-owned supermarkets were well-stocked with subsidized goods. But customers says shortages of items like milk, butter and corn flour are common occurrences. Suarez Mier says the next president will have to curb¹² spending to deal with the country's growing deficits¹⁴.

“Even with the humongous revenues the Venezuelan government has obtained from very high oil prices, the deficit¹³ as a proportion to GDP, the public deficit, has hit an all time record of 15 percent,” he said.

These analysts¹⁵ say neither candidate has the broad support that Chavez enjoyed during his 14-year tenure¹⁶ as president. Whoever is elected the next president will be dealing¹⁷ with a new more fractured political landscape.