Chavez wins vote to scrap term limits in Venezuela

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-02-16 15:42

CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez won a referendum to eliminate term limits Sunday, paving the way for him to run again in 2012 and beyond to push through his vision of a socialist Venezuela.

Fireworks exploded in the sky and caravans of supporters celebrated in the streets, waving red flags and honking horns. Thousands of people gathered outside Miraflores Palace, where Chavez appeared on a balcony to sing the national anthem and address the crowd.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez celebrates with members of his government and family on a balcony of Miraflores Palace after the government announced their exit polls gave him a victory in a national referendum to decide whether to allow him to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections, February 15, 2009. [Agencies]

"Today we opened wide the gates of the future," Chavez proclaimed. "Venezuela will not return to its past of indignity."

With 94 percent of the vote counted, 54 percent had voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, National Electoral Council chief Tibisay Lucena announced. Forty-six percent had voted against the measure to eliminate term limits on all public officials, an irreversible trend.

At their campaign headquarters, Chavez opponents hugged one another and some cried. Several opposition leaders left without speaking, but those who remained said they wouldn't contest the vote.

"We accept this result," said student leader David Smolansky, 23. "We're still standing. We're committed to Venezuela."

Voters on both sides said their decision was crucial to the future of Venezuela.

"This 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 has done for the poor."

The recorded blare of bugles jarred Venezuelans awake before dawn, and long lines formed even before the polls opened at 6 am. Information Minister Jesse Chacon projected turnout as high as 70 percent.

Chavez supporters said Chavez has given poor Venezuelans cheap food, free education and quality health care, and empowered them with a discourse of class struggle after decades of US-backed governments that favored the rich.

Opponents said Chavez already has far too much power, with the courts, the legislature and the election council all under his influence. Removing the 12-year presidential term limit he pushed through in a 1999 referendum, they said, makes him unstoppable.

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