CARACAS, Aug 17 (AFP) - Venezuelan authorities will conduct a random audit of the recall referendum, former US president Jimmy Carter announced Tuesday, adding however he had no reason to doubt the vote won by President Hugo Chavez.
Carter said he and the Organization of American States (OAS) had suggested the move in order to ease concerns voiced by the opposition.
Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said the electoral authorities agreed to conduct on Wednesday the random audit of 150 voting desks, monitored by officials of the government, the opposition and international observers.
"The results of this second audit should be sufficient to address the remaining concerns that have been expressed by the opposition," said Carter.
Opposition leaders have denounced as a "massive fraud" the official outcome of the referendum which has Chavez garnering 58 percent of the ballots. The opposition had pushed for the vote hoping it could revoke the president's mandate.
But Carter, who had already endorsed the outcome, reiterated Tuesday he had "no reason to doubt the integrity of the electoral process or the accuracy of the referendum itself."