Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jesus Perez said Thursday that the international community recognizes President Hugo Chavez's administration, as many countries showed their support after knowing the referendum results.

Jesus Perez said the Foreign Ministry had received innumerable congratulation messages since the official results of the referendum were announced, and most of them highlighted the civic attitude of the Venezuelans and recognized the support of the majorities for the government.

"The international community, including governments, personalities, organizations, parliamentarians, businessmen, and syndicates, has unanimous opinion on the fact that the Venezuelansdecided to live in democracy," the minister said.

In last Sunday's recall referendum, 58.25 percent of the electorate voted for Chavez to remain in office and 41.74 percent voted for his mandate to be revoked. However, the opposition charges Chavez won the vote by fraud.

The auditing of the ballots of referendum, led by the National Electoral Council (CNE), the Carter Center and the Organization ofAmerican States (OAS), started Thursday without the presence of representatives of the opposition, who refused to participate in, saying the methodology was inadequate and would fail to detect fraud.

Source: Xinhua