Bitter infighting between political parties struggling to resolve differences and official measures to ban opposition candidates on corruption charges are threatening to overshadow regional elections in Venezuela this autumn.

Increasingly evident internal divisions between parties supporting leftwing President Hugo Chávez as well as within the opposition movement – which lacks a clear leader to settle its differences – are in danger of splitting votes on both sides, analysts say, as parties scramble to nominate candidates by the August 12 registration deadline.