Chavez’s popularity has been dented since a severe drought exposed problems in the oil-exporting nation’s hydro-dependent grid and led to strict power rationing.

“The rains have officially arrived,” Chavez said at a ceremony to mark a visit by Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica.

The National Weather Institute, however, said the recent rains were due to a temporary weather pattern and that the rainy season would not start for another month.

Electrical Energy Minister Ali Rodriguez said he planned to extend a 60-day electricity emergency, which allows the government to mobilize resources to deal with the crisis and ration power supplies, the state news agency ABN said.

Water levels at the OPEC member’s hydroelectric dams have dropped to critically low levels amid the worst drought in a century, which is blamed on the El Nino weather phenomenon.

The power shortages and rationing could boost opposition prospects in legislative elections in September that will be a curtain-raiser for a 2012 presidential election.