Venezuela comes to grips with Chavez’s defeat in referendum

By DPA

Caracas : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez suffered a bitter defeat at the polls as the country rejected a referendum on constitutional reform, but the winners of the referendum called for reconciliation in the deeply divided country.


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Chavez had pushed heavily for his proposal that would have allowed him to stand for re-election indefinitely, still many opposition leaders stressed that Sunday’s result does not affect the position of the popular left-wing president, whom they expect to serve his mandate until early 2013.

Nearly 51 percent of the voters rejected the reform, while 49 percent voted in favour of it. More than 44 percent of the electorate did not turn out to vote in the oil-rich nation.

Ahead of Sunday’s referendum, Chavez, who is known for his strong anti-US views, had claimed the proposals would install “21st century socialism” in Venezuela and pave the way for a more effective fight against corruption. The referendum would have allowed the unlimited re-election of the president, lengthened the presidential term from six to seven years and ended the autonomy of the country’s central bank.

The reform proposal was approved in October by Venezuela’s National Assembly, which is fully controlled by Chavez supporters.

Opposition parties said Monday that the result of the referendum shows that Venezuelans reject “extreme” proposals. The leadership of several parties agreed that the country’s citizens have matured politically and that Venezuela was the real winner in the referendum.

Luis Ignacio Planas, the secretary general of the Christian Democratic Party, COPEI, stressed that Chavez conceded defeat and asked him to seek a dialogue with the opposition.

“You cannot keep governing this country with violence and confrontation. After Sunday’s referendum there were no winners or losers,” he said in a press conference.

Planas said the reform proposal failed because it did not address the problems that really worry Venezuelans, such as street violence, unemployment and the scarcity of many consumer goods.

Podemos party secretary general Ismael Garcia said there was a new reality in the country and most Venezuelans “do not identify with extreme proposals.”

Garcia also stressed the achievements and the struggle of the country’s students, who led the fight against the constitutional reform proposal.

Many elements of the Venezuelan opposition had in the past favoured abstaining from voting in protest of Chavez, but student protestors had led crowded demonstrations, calling on citizens to vote against the referendum. The students first rose in public opposition to Chavez over the government’s closure of popular anti-Chavez television channel RCTV earlier this year.

As street parties in celebration of the referendum result continued well into Monday, student leader Stalin Gonzalez said the electoral triumph “needs to be taken humbly.”

Chavez received some three million fewer votes in the referendum than in last year’s presidential election, which renewed his mandate until 2012. Until Sunday, through two presidential elections, a referendum and a recall vote, he had never obtained less than 60 percent of the vote since his inauguration as president in 1999.

Early Monday, Chavez blamed voter abstention for his shrinking support.

“Our voters did not come out, but I am sure the immense majority of those 3 million people are still with us,” he said.

In December 2006, Chavez was re-elected with 7.3 million votes, against 4.2 million for rival Manuel Rosales. On Sunday, 4.5 million people voted against the proposed reform, with 4.3 million in favour.

Chavez had previously always succeeded in increasing the number of votes in favour of his candidacy or proposals.

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