Candidates in parties backing President Hugo Chavez won many more seats than opposition challengers in Venezuela's local elections this week, according to preliminary results. With nearly all votes counted from Sunday's elections, Venezuela's major newspapers calculated that pro-Chavez candidates won some 47 percent of city council posts across the country, while opposition candidates won 17 percent and other independent parties had 18 percent of posts. The National Electoral Council released preliminary results Thursday evening showing Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party won some 1.3 million votes, or about 30 percent, with other pro-Chavez parties accounted for the remainder. The local elections were to decide 5,599 posts, including thousands of city council and neighborhood board members.