Henrique Capriles celebrates after wining the opposition presidential primary in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday Feb. 12, 2012. Capriles won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday by a wide margin, emerging as the single candidate who will try to end President Hugo Chavez's 13 years in power. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Henrique Capriles celebrates after wining the opposition presidential primary in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday Feb. 12, 2012. Capriles won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday by a wide margin, emerging as the single candidate who will try to end President Hugo Chavez's 13 years in power. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Henrique Capriles delivers a speech as he celebrates after winning the opposition presidential primary election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012. Capriles won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday by a wide margin, emerging as the single candidate who will try to end President Hugo Chavez's 13 years in power. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Henrique Capriles, center, accompanied by fellow contenders Pablo Perez, left, and Maria Corina Machado, celebrates after winning the opposition presidential primary election next to his in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012. Capriles won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday by a wide margin, emerging as the single candidate who will try to end President Hugo Chavez's 13 years in power. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles talks at a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Feb. 13, 2012. Capriles, who won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday, is calling for "balanced elections," criticizing the use of government money and slanted coverage in state media as President Hugo Chavez seeks re-election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles smiles during a news conference in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday Feb. 13, 2012. Capriles, who won Venezuela's first-ever opposition presidential primary Sunday, is calling for "balanced elections," criticizing the use of government money and slanted coverage in state media as President Hugo Chavez seeks re-election. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Venezuelan presidential candidate Henrique Capriles on Monday called for "balanced elections" and criticized the use of government money and slanted coverage in state media as President Hugo Chavez seeks re-election.
Chavez is expected to use his government powers and a bonanza of public spending to seek re-election in the Oct. 7 election. Capriles also complained that government-run television and other media coverage is tilted against him.
"Let's have some balanced elections," Capriles said at a news conference a day after handily winning the opposition's first-ever presidential primary.
The 39-year-old candidate, who is governor of Miranda state, also strongly criticized Chavez's economic policies. He condemned the government's expropriations of hundreds of businesses, apartment buildings and farms over the past decade, saying the seizures have been a failure.
Capriles said some of those businesses could be privatized if he defeats Chavez in the country's Oct. 7 presidential election.
"All the expropriations have been a failure," Capriles said. "The companies that have been seized by the state must be reviewed one by one."
Capriles said that if elected his government would also review dozens of economic deals signed with foreign countries. "Some of them are completely to Venezuela's disadvantage," he said.
Capriles warned that newly stiffened price controls won't work and predicted many affected items such as deodorant will become scarce.
He pledged to reduce the nation's debt and eventually lift strict currency exchange controls that Chavez imposed in 2003 while trying to stem capital flight. "The exchange controls cannot be dismantled overnight," he said.
Capriles touted the turnout of 2.9 million ballots cast out of 18 million registered voters as a major achievement.
"Venezuela woke up with a new political reality," Capriles said. "The country does want a new leadership."
Vice President Elias Jaua said Monday that it was positive for the opposition to have recognized the authority of the National Electoral Council. Some Chavez opponents have questioned its independence in the past.
"We hope that this same recognition exists Oct. 7 when Hugo Chavez wins the elections," Jaua said on state television. He said the opposition should respect the electoral council as an impartial arbiter, as well as the role the military will play in maintaining security during the vote.
About 16 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the primary, far surpassing the opposition's goal of 10 percent to 12 percent.
Luis Vicente Leon, director of the Venezuelan pollster Datanalisis, called the turnout historic, both for the opposition and for the country.
"No primary event in Venezuela, including those of the PSUV (Chavez's party), could draw so many people," Leon told the local television channel Globovision.
Adam Isacson, a Latin America analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the high opposition turnout, combined with Capriles' popular appeal, puts Chavez's opponents on solid footing.
"They have a charismatic, credible candidate who ? since he has spent most of his adult life in Chavez's Venezuela ? doesn't carry the baggage of the corrupt governments that came before Hugo Chavez," Isacson said. "And the opposition no doubt benefits from a bout of 'Chavez fatigue' in Venezuela: even many voters who think fondly of Hugo Chavez may feel that 14 years is enough, and his cancer has made many start to envision a post-Chavez Venezuela for the first time in a while."
Chavez's approval ratings have topped 50 percent in recent polls, and his struggle with cancer doesn't appear to have hurt his popularity. The 57-year-old president says he's cancer-free after undergoing surgery and chemotherapy last year, and has been energetic in his hours-long television appearances, apparently trying to show he can still keep up with a younger challenger.
Isacson said the opposition will still need to aim for a very large turnout in the general election.
"The governing party has a solid core of supporters, plus a large chunk of the electorate who depend on the state for income, plus a wealth of public resources to employ for electioneering," Isacson said.
Steve Ellner, a political science professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said he thinks one significant hurdle facing Capriles is to try to "challenge Chavez's claim to being the president of the non-privileged as well as the defender of Venezuelan nationalism."
"Capriles needs to come up with a set of concrete measures that are innovative and reach out to the popular classes," Ellner said.
Capriles said he expects personal attacks from Chavez to increase as the presidential campaign gets under way, and suggested he might become increasingly confrontational. So far, Capriles has largely avoided direct or personal barbs.
"If they want me to get into the ring, I'll get into the ring," Capriles said.
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Associated Press writer Fabiola Sanchez contributed to this report.
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