CARACAS, June 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday he would accept a referendum on his rule and predicted he would defeat his opposition.

    "I believe we're going to have a referendum," Chavez said in a broadcast to the nation from the presidential palace in Caracas, hours after Venezuela's National Election Council (CNE) announced that the opposition had gathered enough signatures required to trigger a recall vote.

    "I accept it," Chavez said, adding it was a triumph for Venezuelan democracy. He vowed to win the referendum.

    CNE's lead judge Jorge Rodriguez announced Thursday that the opposition had gathered 2,451,821 signatures to demand the referendum, surpassing the 2.43 million, or 20 percent of the registered voters, as required by the Constitution to trigger a referendum.

    These figures were calculated with about 84 percent of the May 28 votes counted, about 86 percent of May 29 and about 65 percent of May 30 votes counted when the reconfirmation process ended.

    The electoral body announced when the three-day reconfirmation process began that the recall referendum would be held on August 8if necessary. Enditem