Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez insisted on Wednesday that it is impossible for him to lose the Oct. 7 election, saying that he enjoys a 15- to 20-point lead that his rival will not be able to overcome in the few weeks left before the vote.

Chávez, who hopes to be reelected for a new term after 14 years in power, also renewed his warning that the presidential candidate of the opposition, former governor of the state of Miranda, Henrique Capriles, plans to claim fraud on Election Day. He added that everyone in Venezuela already knows what the results will be.

“[Capriles] will no longer be able to surmount [the lead], even if he gets on a missile, or two, or 10. […] It is impossible for them to win the election.

“It is absolutely impossible, mathematically impossible,” the president said in a news conference.

“There is a consolidated gap no lower than 15 points,” he added.

Venezuelans will go to the polls for a presidential election that many consider crucial for the future of the country, amid promises by Chávez that he will use a new six-year mandate to finish building the foundation of his socialist revolution.

The president’s comments were made at a moment when some private polls show the two candidates in a very close race.

Capriles has said that it is he who has the lead, quoting numbers gathered by his campaign team.

“We have said it. We started an even race and now the numbers are starting to grow,” Capriles said in a recent news conference.

“And what will happen on Oct. 7? Don’t you believe that we’re going to have a very close result? This is not said triumphantly, of course.”

This affirmation seems to be validated by a handful of pollsters, among them Hernández Hercón and Predicmática, which give the opposition’s candidate a four-point lead over the president.

The first firm places the race at 48.6 to 44.2 percent in Capriles’ favor, and the latter places Capriles winning 47.7 to 43.9 percent.

Another pollster, Consultores 21, has both candidates in a technical tie.

Chávez, however, said in the news conference that not all share the same viewpoint, pointing out the results given by pollster Datanálisis, which he says that, although it is siding with the opposition, is giving the president a 15-point lead.

Other pollsters close to the government, including GIS XXI, give the president a lead of more than 20 points.

“What is going to happen here is already written. At this point there is no doubt of who will be the winner,” said the president while claiming the opposition runs an election campaign based on lies.