Venezuela opposition fears crackdown, Maduro vows protection

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition leaders said on Wednesday they feared persecution over post-election protests, but President-elect Nicolas Maduro promised to protect his rival despite their vicious election dispute.

Maduro's razor-thin victory in a presidential vote has not been recognized by Henrique Capriles, who is demanding a recount and alleging thousands of irregularities at poll stations.

Seven people have died in opposition-led protests, and the government has vowed legal action against Capriles and others whom they accuse of stirring up violence.

Instability in the OPEC nation with the world's largest oil reserves has sent Venezuelan bond prices tumbling.

The unrest, just weeks after the death of former socialist leader Hugo Chavez, has laid bare the deep polarization of a nation split down the middle between pro- and anti-government factions, and left its 29 million people on edge.

Overnight, Capriles alleged that the government had ordered gangs to attack his supporters and even his official residence in Miranda state, where he is the governor.

"Anything that happens to me in the official residence at Los Teques is responsibility of Nicolas Maduro!" he said.

Though demanding legal action against Capriles and calling him a fascist, Maduro nevertheless said he would be protected.

"I am a man of peace and of my word. I ordered (state intelligence agency) Sebin to maintain protection of the ex-candidate of the right wing even though he has got rid of those who were protecting him," he said via Twitter.

Another prominent opposition leader, Leopoldo Lopez, said there was a plan to arrest him on charges of destabilization. Officials did not immediately respond to that.

OPPOSITION MARCH OFF

Capriles had planned to lead a protest march on the National Electoral Council on Wednesday, but Maduro banned it. The opposition leader later called it off, saying the government had plotted to start trouble and blame it on him.

"To all my followers ... this is a peaceful quarrel. Whoever is involved in violence is not part of this project, is not with me," he said. "It is doing me harm."

Monday's scenes of opposition supporters attacking ruling Socialist Party offices, government-run clinics and people celebrating Maduro's victory were damaging to Capriles' cause, which he casts as one of democracy versus autocracy.

Evoking the emotive memory of a 2002 putsch against Chavez, which lasted only 48 hours but led to a radicalization of the government and a discrediting of Venezuela's opposition, Maduro has accused Capriles' camp of planning a coup d'etat.

About 135 people were arrested and more than 60 hurt during Monday's violent clashes, including one woman whom a mob tried to burn alive, officials said. Protests were much quieter on Tuesday, with thousands of Capriles' followers holding peaceful rallies outside Electoral Council offices around the country.

The most successful and charismatic leader the opposition has had since Chavez took office in 1999, Capriles, 40, says the government is responsible for the violence because it denied reasonable requests for a full recount.

Maduro won with 50.8 percent of the vote against Capriles' 49.0 percent, according to the electoral authority.

He is due to be formally sworn in on Friday.

Maduro campaigned for election on a promise to continue his late boss's hardline socialist policies. He had a big lead in polls but that evaporated in the final days and the result was much closer than his team had expected.

Capriles says he is sure he won the election and that his team has evidence of 3,200 irregularities, from voters using fake IDs to intimidation of volunteers at polling centres. Opposition sources say their count showed Capriles had an extra 300,000 to 400,000 votes not shown in the official tally.

The electoral council has refused to hold a recount, saying an audit of ballots from 54 percent of the polling centres, in a widely respected electronic voting system, had already been done.

Maduro initially said he was open to a recount but has changed his position. He has called on his supporters to demonstrate all week, culminating in a big rally in Caracas on Friday to coincide with his inauguration ceremony.

He jumped on Capriles' cancellation of Wednesday's march, saying the opposition leader had started to backpedal.

"No matter how much they retreat, they'll have to face justice sooner rather than later," Maduro said, turning on Capriles. "You are responsible for this. Don't disguise yourself as a pacifist."

In a session of Congress late on Tuesday, 'Chavista' legislators accused Capriles of inciting bloodshed and called for him to face a formal investigation and charges.

Two opposition lawmakers said they were insulted and punched by pro-government legislators.

Maduro's slight margin of victory has raised doubts about whether the disparate alliance that formed around Chavez during his 14 years in power can hold together without him. The opposition is also a wide-ranging coalition of parties from right to left on the political spectrum.

(Reporting by Daniel Wallis and Enrique Andres Pretel; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Doina Chiacu)

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