Six candidates from Venezuelan opposition parties have united against Hugo Chavez

 Venezuelan opposition parties have unveiled a unity platform which they hope can defeat President Hugo Chavez later this year.

Six candidates from Venezuelan opposition parties have united under one banner

Venezuelan opposition parties have unveiled a unity platform focusing on market economics and public safety with which they hope a unity candidate can defeat President Hugo Chavez later this year.

Six candidates under the Democratic Unity coalition banner are vying in a 12 February primary to become the lone opposition candidate to take on Mr Chavez, whose state-led economic model they oppose.

Current favourites in the polls, governors Henrique Capriles and Pablo Perez, signed the document as did lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, former mayor Leopoldo Lopez and union organizer Pablo Medina.

Ex-ambassador Diego Arria was the only candidate not to sign it.

Among the changes opposition members sought were dropping price controls in place since 2003 and adopting a competitive exchange rate.

They also want to reassess Mr Chavez' creation of a socialist State and return autonomy to the Central Bank.

A staunch critic of the United States, Mr Chavez is the key political and economic ally of Cuba, the Americas' only one-party communist regime.

He also has launched economic support programs for sympathetic governments across Latin America.

Mr Chavez is seeking a third six-year term in the country's 7 October vote.