March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela's Supreme Court's Electoral Chamber ruled that disputed signatures seeking a recall for President Hugo Chavez are valid, giving a boost to opposition efforts to oust the former paratrooper. The government said it would appeal.

Supreme Court Justice Alberto Martini, a member of the court's electoral chamber, said the body ruled in favor of an opposition request to overturn a ruling by the national electoral council that said 876,000 signatures needed to be reconfirmed in order to be valid. If the ruling stands, there probably would be enough signatures to force a recall vote on Chavez, said opposition leaders such as Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Chacao district of Caracas.

The opposition has waged a two-year campaign to force Chavez from office that included a two-day coup in 2002 and a strike last year. The ruling came days after the Supreme Court's constitutional chamber said that the electoral chamber lacked jurisdiction to rule on the opposition request.

``This could turn into a constitutional crisis,'' Vitali Meschoulam, director of Latin America for the New York-based political risk adviser Eurasia Group, said in a telephone interview. ``This could turn into a battle between the supreme court's separate parts.''

The electoral chamber said the election agency erred, and penalized voters, when it required a review of all petitions that bore handwriting that also appeared on other petitions. Opposition leaders said poll workers helped signers by filling in their names and identity numbers.

Venezuela's supreme court is divided into separate chambers, which decide whether or not to send cases to all 20 members. They also can rule independently.

Venezuela's benchmark 9 1/4 percent bond maturing in 2027 rose 80 cents on the dollar to 88.15 cents, dropping the yield to 10.6 percent, according to J.P. Morgan as of 2:05 p.m. New York time. The bond's yield has risen from a six-year low of 9.85 percent on Jan. 6.

Dispute Signatures

Venezuela's opposition submitted 3.4 million signatures to force a recall on Chavez in December. The electoral council ruled two weeks ago that the opposition was 600,000 short, but that more than 1 million signatures had to be reconfirmed.

Among signatures needing verification were those appearing on petitions with the same handwriting. The electoral council had planned to set up 2,700 centers for Venezuelans to reconfirm their signatures on the disputed petitions.

Now, that may be unnecessary, Lopez said.

``The electoral chamber has practically invoked a referendum,'' Lopez said. ``The next step is to see if the constitutional chamber or the full chamber challenges this decision.''

If the full court undertakes the case, a decision isn't guaranteed, Lopez said.

``This could lead to a crisis in the full chamber because, as we see it, the court is divided politically 10 to 10.'' Lopez said.

The opposition needs 2.43 million signatures to trigger a recall on Chavez. So far, only 1.8 million signatures have been certified.

Freddy Bernal, mayor of the Libertador municipality of Caracas and a Chavez ally, said the ruling Fifth Republic Movement would appeal the ruling.

``The electoral chamber's decision is illegal,'' he said in a televised press conference. The electoral council had no immediate comment.

Torture Accusations

Venezuela's opposition has held marches and protests to force the electoral council to approve a recall. At least nine people have died since Feb. 27 when demonstrations began.

Jose Miguel Vivanco, executive director of New York-based Human Rights Watch's Americas division, said Venezuela was responsible for the deaths during the protests and that the group has seen evidence and heard witnesses describe ``cruel and inhuman treatment'' of protesters arrested by the National Guard between Feb. 27 and March 4.

``There is unquestionable evidence of human rights violations by agents of the Venezuelan state,'' Vivanco told Union radio.

``Protesters suffered torture by electricity, burns and cruel and inhuman treatment,'' Vivanco said.

The government said it is investigating the nine deaths and hasn't said who is to blame. Chavez said March 5 that National Guard soldiers have fired on protesters only when protesters shot at them and otherwise used rubber bullets and tear gas.

Chavez said yesterday he hasn't seen any evidence of torture of protesters by soldiers. Opposition groups were ``making up'' claims of mistreatment, Chavez said.

``Now they're going around crying,'' Chavez said during a televised speech yesterday. ``If there was torture, show me the evidence or stop whining.''

Opposition groups plan to show evidence of human rights violations by the government to international organizations, Rafael Narvaez, member of the opposition group Democratic Coordinator, told Union radio.

Narvaez didn't say when or to which international organizations the evidence would be presented.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Wilson in Caracas pewilson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 15, 2004 15:16 EST