by Matthew Lee
WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (AFP) - The United States on Monday declined to join international monitors in backing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez` apparent victory in a weekend recall election and called for a prompt, thorough and transparent probe into opposition claims of fraud.
While "noting" and praising the work of observers from former US president Jimmy Carter`s Carter Center and the Organization of American States (OAS), the State Department said Washington was not yet ready to endorse their finding that Chavez, a longtime US irritant, had prevailed in Sunday`s vote.
"We note the OAS and Carter Center announcement that their quick count was consistent with the National Electoral Council`s preliminary results," said Tom Casey, a department spokesman.
"We also note their offer to work with the opposition to conduct a full audit of the results and to examine any concerns that have arisen," he told reporters.
"We encourage the National Electoral Council to allow a transparent audit to address any concerns and assure Venezuelan citizens that the referendum was free and fair," he said.
Casey had earlier congratulated the Venezuelan people for the "relatively calm, relatively peaceful" polls but said it was far too early to make "final judgments" on the referendum.
Earlier in Caracas, Carter and the OAS backed official results showing that Chavez had won with 58 percent of the vote despite opposition allegations that the referendum had been marred by massive fraud and irregularities.
Carter said a "quick count" gathered by his team of observers "coincides with the partial results announced this morning by the National Electoral Council."
Carter urged the opposition to recognize the leftist president`s referendum victory.
"More than 10 million people voted and there is a clear difference in favor of the government of President Chavez," he said at a news conference here.
But the opposition, which had sought to revoke Chavez`s mandate and cut short his term by two years, maintains that the recall won the support of 59 percent of voters.
Despite Washington`s refusal to join the OAS and Carter Center assessments, a State Department official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity, said the United States was also not convinced by the opposition`s claims.
"If the opposition feels that they have credible evidence of fraud, they need to present it," the official said. "It needs to be reviewed and looked at. Once that happens, then you theoretically have something that everyone can agree to and live with."
The official noted that the OAS and Carter Center findings dealt only with preliminary results released by Venezuelan election officials and that a true assessment would have to wait until the results were made official.
"The National Electoral Council hasn`t come out with its final results yet either, so I don`t think we`re in a position of declaring it over," the official said, adding: "It ain`t over til it`s over."
Opposition spokesman Henry Ramos Allup claimed Chavez got only 40 percent, with 59 percent of ballots supporting the call for his mandate to be revoked two years before it concludes.
"This was a massive fraud," said Leopoldo Puchi, leader of one of the numerous political parties included in the opposition coalition.
"I do not rule out that the political crisis could get worse," said Juan Fernandez, another opposition leader.
But Chavez insisted the balloting was "clean and transparent."
"What a great victory," he said as his supporters set off fireworks.
Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro and opponent of the US-led war in Iraq but whose country is the world`s fifth biggest crude exporter and supplies about 15 percent of the oil imported by the United States, has been a thorn in Washington`s side since coming to power.
He has accused the United States of funding the campaign to unseat him and insists that Washington was behind a short-lived coup in April 2002 during which he was ousted for two days.