Venezuela referendum: Chavez wins

By Dr.Abdul Ruiff Colachal

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Venezuelans in Latin America have voted in a referendum on 15 February to lift limits on terms in office for elected officials, allowing President Hugo Chavez to stand for re-election. According to the National Electoral Council officials, with 94% of votes counted, 54% backed an end to term limits.

Victorious Chavez has said he needs to stay in office beyond the end of his second term in 2012 so he can secure what he calls Venezuela's socialist revolution.. Chavez in 2007 lost the vote on a similar proposed change, but this time he outsmarted his opponents. Student groups and opposition parties have been campaigning against a proposed change to the constitution which would allow elected officials, including the president, to seek indefinite e re-election.

In 2008 November, Venezuela's opposition has made gains in regional polls, but allies of President Hugo Chavez have held on to 17 of the country's 22 governorships. The outcome signaled that the opposition has strengthened in recent years, our correspondent says, while President Chavez will argue that victories in more than three-quarters of the country is evidence that his socialist agenda is supported by the majority of Venezuelans. The president said the outcome of the vote was an endorsement of Venezuela's "socialist project".

Opposition also won mayoral elections in Caracas - formerly held by a Chavez supporter. The post is seen by some as the second most important job in the country. Mayor-elect Antonio Ledezma called on the government to work with him to "rescue Caracas" from problems such as rising crime and ageing infrastructure. 

The past decade could be summed up as "revolution, independence and socialism," President Chavez said. Joining him at the Caracas rally were several Latin American leaders. The celebrations came as Chavez campaigns ahead of a referendum on amending the constitution to lift term limits on elected officials. On 3 February 2009 Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has celebrated 10 years in power, telling supporters a new era is under way in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chavez said there had been radical changes since he came to power.

The Venezuelan economy relies on oil for more than 90% of its exports and more than half of its income - but the price of oil has dropped from $140 a barrel last July to about $40 now. Additionally, the opposition to the government, which has often been weak and divided, is starting to look like a more serious threat.

The BBC in Caracas says this was the kind of strong confirmation of his socialist agenda at the polls that Chavez had been seekingThis victory saved the revolution," said Gonzalo Mosqueda, a 60-year-old shopkeeper, sipping rum from a plastic cup outside the palace. "Without it everything would be at risk - all the social programs, and everything he [Chavez] has done for the poor," he told AP. More than 11 million voters out of almost 17 million who were eligible took part in Sunday's referendum, said the head of the electoral body, Tibisay Lucena.

International observers said the ballot was free and fair, and opposition leaders were quoted as saying they would not contest the vote. Even so, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez told the BBC's Newshour programme earlier on Sunday that the campaign had been heavily weighted towards Mr Chavez.

"In 10 years we have had 15 elections, 15, and this has been the most unequal, the most abusive campaign of all. "So that's why you are seeing more propaganda, more campaigning, more advertisement for the 'yes' vote."

Challenges ahead

Chavez conisders the reerendum as 'Revolution saved'. Since Feb 1999 when he took office after winning 1998 electionm Chavaz has been facing daunting task of makikng the revbolution wrodk. In 1998 July, he was re-elected under new constitution for a six-year term; He faced in April 2002 an abortive coup. Chavez returns to power after two days; August 2004: Wins recall referendum on whether he should serve out rest of his term; Dec 2006: Wins another six-year term with 63%; Dec 2007: Loses constitutional referendum which included proposal to allow the president to run indefinitely for office; Feb 2009: Wins referendum that lifts term limits on elected officials.

Under existing constitutional rules, the president was limited to two six-year terms in office, which meant that Chavez would have had to leave the presidency in three years' time. A proposal to end presidential term limits was one of a package of 69 constitutional changes narrowly rejected in a referendum in late 2007.

The president now faces the daunting task of grappling with the global economic crisis in a country dependent on oil exports. G-& has been strugglng to cope with the recession without any visible success. Venezuela has the highest inflation in Latin America, running at just under 30% a year. There are also serious domestic problems such as violent crime that Chavez will need to tackle in the next four years if he is to repeat his success in the presidential elections of 2012.

Critics say that would concentrate too much power in the presidency. "The doors of the future are wide open," Chavez shouted from the balcony of the Miraflores presidential palace after the results were announced. "In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate." Crowds of the president's supporters filled in the streets, letting off fireworks, waving red flags and honking car horns. 

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Dr.Abdul Ruiff Colachal

Columnist