Caracas, Venezuela ? Millions of Venezuelans eager to cast ballots on whether to recall President Hugo Chavez overwhelmed polling stations across this polarized nation Sunday, prompting organizers to extend voting into this morning.

The massive turnout was one of the highest ever in Venezuela, forcing some people to wait as long as 10 hours to vote. As lines, some more than a mile long, snaked around buildings and through shantytowns, patient Chavez supporters and foes alike inched through queues hauling lawn chairs, books, umbrellas, knitting, food and cell phones.

The balloting was the culmination of two years of vitriolic confrontation between those who view the 50-year-old leftist president as a dangerous demagogue and those who revere him as a champion of the poor.

Official results were expected today. Although Venezuelan regulations forbade release of results from independent voter surveys until the outcome was announced, the New York-based polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates forecast a landslide vote to oust Chavez.

The firm’s exit poll of more than 20,000 voters suggested 59 percent of an estimated 8 million votes cast by early evening were against Chavez.

But a public relations firm working for the government claimed a poll it commissioned showed Chavez defeating the recall by winning 55 percent of the vote. The Caracas firm of Varianza Opinion based its projection on more than 53,000 interviews, said Michael Shellenberger, president of El Cerrito-based PR firm Lumina Strategies.

Chavez supporters celebrated what they assumed would be a triumph, as hundreds gathered around the presidential palace to chant praise and set off firecrackers. Army troops, already deployed throughout the capital to ensure security at the polls, were reinforced late in the night to guard against the street parties turning into clashes.

Fears of a violent reaction by whichever side loses have made global oil markets nervous. Shipments from this country, the world’s fifth-largest exporter, have kept supplies steady to the U.S. market amid disruptions caused by the war in Iraq and problems in Russia. Oil prices are at record highs, and Asian markets saw another jump early today on fears of unrest after the Venezuelan vote is counted.

Venezuelans stand in long lines in Caracas to cast their vote in the referendum recall of Hugo Chavez's presidency. So many people turned out for Sunday's recall that voting was extended into today.