- Title: VENEZUELA: POLITICS - President Hugo Chavez wins vote to allow re-election
- Date: 17th February 2009
- Summary: CARACAS, VENEZUELA (FEBRUARY 15, 2009) (REUTERS) VARIOUS CHAVEZ SUPPORTERS CELEBRATING OUTSIDE MIRAFLORES PALACE (SOUNDBITE) CHAVEZ SUPPORTER PABLO EMILIO BARRERA, SAYING: "We want them to accept their defeat as we did our last time without violence. The town is in the street to defend this victory. It is a victory for Venezuela." VARIOUS OF SUPPORTERS CELEBRATING IN THE STREET GENERAL VIEW OF OPOSITION SUPPORTERS WATCHING CNE ANNOUNCEMENT VARIOUS OF OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS CRYING AFTER ANNOUNCEMENT THAT CHAVEZ HAS WON THE REFERENDUM
- Embargoed: 4th March 2009 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVAADRXU21KFCQ7N72ATK1DAYSFZ
- Story Text: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez won a referendum vote on Sunday (February 15) that lets him stay in power for as long as he keeps beating rivals in elections, and bolsters support for his socialist and anti-U.S.
policies.
Chavez has already been in power for 10 years and the referendum vote helps clear the way for him to fulfill his declared goal of ruling for decades, although the global economic crisis will limit his ability to spend oil cash on nationalising industries and extending his influence overseas.
Electoral authorities said 54 percent of voters approved a constitutional amendment to remove limits on re-election and allow Chavez to stay in office until he is defeated at the ballot box. His current termin 2013.
"Those for the 'Yes' option, 6.300.594 voters which makes up 54.3 percent. For the 'No' option, 5.040.082 votes," announced Tibisay Lucena, the head of the country election committee.
"The winners should celebrate with dignity, pride and tranquility.
And those who were not the winners should go with great tranquility," she added.
Chavez, dressed in his signature red shirt, pumped his fist in the air as he stood on his palace balcony in front of thousands of flag-waving supporters.
"The dignitiy of the patriots has won against those that deny patriotism. Perserverance has won. We remember the father Bolivar, the liberating father, when he said: 'God grants victory to perseverance,"
Chavez told his supporters.
Chavez led his supporters singing the national anthem and they chanted "Hey-ho, Chavez won't go."
"We want them to accept their defeat as we did our last time without violence. The town is in the street to defend this victory is a victory for venezuela," said one Chavez supporter, Emilio Barrera.
Fireworks exploded across Caracas and caravans of cars and motorbikes sped through the city as Chavez supporters clad in red celebrated, honking their horns.
Opposition leaders, who say Chavez is an autocrat bent on sculpting Venezuela into a replica of communist Cuba, tried to capture discontent over crime, economic mismanagement and corruption.
But the government campaigned hard. A retired army paratrooper who once led a failed coup before winning power at the ballot box, Chavez has survived a putsch and two national strikes against his rule and has the loyalty of many poor Venezuelans.
He took office in 1999 as an underdog vowing to end corrupt elites, and is popular for spending on health clinics, schools and food hand-outs.
Calling former Cuban President Fidel Castro his political "father", Chavez has become the standard bearer for anti-U.S.
sentiment in Latin America, using his OPEC nation's oil wealth to help allies and counter U.S. influence in the region.
He has strengthened ties with Russia and Iran, and allies in Ecuador and Bolivia have joined him in rewriting laws to extend their rule and increasing state control over the economy in the name of bringing wealth to neglected poor majorities.
The victory on Sunday allows Chavez, 54, to put behind him a damaging vote loss in 2007, when his first attempt to remove constitutional restraints on his extended rule was defeated.
The result is a huge blow for Venezuela's opposition which had made gains in city and state elections last year after years of losing elections they often complained were unfair.
Opposition parties had pinned their hopes on a popular but inexperienced and under-financed student movement spearheading opposition to Chavez. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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