News: Politics
Venezuelans Vote to Eliminate Two-Term Limit on All Elected Office 54.4% to 45.6%
February 15, 2009 (venezuelanalysis.com)— At 9:35pm local time, three and a half hours after polls closed and with 94.2% of voted counted, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announced that Venezuelans had voted 54.4% to 45.6% in favor of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the two-term limit on all elected office.
Chávez supporters celebrated the nearly 9-point victory margin with enthusiasm, as it will allow President Hugo Chávez to run for a third full term in 2012.
According to the CNE, abstention was relatively low, at 33%, with about 11 out 16 million registered voters voting, which is about two million more votes than in 2007, for the failed constitutional reform referendum that would have altered 69 articles of Venezuela’s constitution.
Chávez and his supporters had argued that the elimination of term limits is necessary to allow Chávez to govern for longer than the four years remaining in his term, in order to complete Venezuela’s transition to “Bolivarian Socialism.”
Chávez supporters celebrated the nearly 9-point victory margin with enthusiasm, as it will allow President Hugo Chávez to run for a third full term in 2012.
According to the CNE, abstention was relatively low, at 33%, with about 11 out 16 million registered voters voting, which is about two million more votes than in 2007, for the failed constitutional reform referendum that would have altered 69 articles of Venezuela’s constitution.
Chávez and his supporters had argued that the elimination of term limits is necessary to allow Chávez to govern for longer than the four years remaining in his term, in order to complete Venezuela’s transition to “Bolivarian Socialism.”
Published on Feb 15th 2009 at 10.08pm
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Comments
Democracy
To the 54%,
People who would voluntarily give away their freedom deserve the tyranny which befalls them.
To the other 46% of Venezuelan citizens,
Tragedy befell your great nation today. Instead of voting to remove Liberty from your Constitution, you should have been voting to add a clause that would prevent a simple majority from removing the rights of a minority, adding Liberty instead of stripping it away from your people.
But there is good news. After the results of this election, the great minds, the great athletes, anyone who wishes to be free from the oppression of dictatorship masquerading as "the will of the people" has just earned a special title upon reaching America.
"Asylum Seeker".
The United States of America will welcome, as we have generation after generation after generation, the poor, the oppressed. Your country has no use for you because you will not conform to the ideology of one crazy German guy who wrote a manifesto 150 years ago (Germany is good at producing tyranny every few generations). We welcome you here, regardless of your views.
And once again, to the 54%,
Enjoy the hell you have brought upon yourself.
Congratulations, People of Venezuela
Congratulations, Mr. Chávez! I am one of the Canadians who deeply respect you and your endeavors. I wish my own country had such a leader. However, may I reassure those who voted "No" that Canada does indeed have the same system that won in Venezuela today. The Prime Minister of Canada may try for re-election as many times as he wants, and there is no problem in that at all. The point is, he still has to win those elections! The point of multiple re-elections has never been considered a problem here by left or right sides, and has never been protested. As students, we protested many things, but never that one.
Democracy... yet again!
What is the big fuss with the constitutional provision of a person getting reelected to a public post for more than two terms?? The largest functional democracy of the world, India too provides for the same. Indeed, the US has been the refuge of the "poor" and the "oppressed" for centuries! That list of "poor" and "oppressed" includes the ilk of Batista and innumerable other dictators. The problem is neither with 'democracy' or the "poor and oppressed" but that the US' "backyard" is now throwing a challenge to the US foreign policy in Latin America. The reduction in the number of "bananas" in the breakfast at the capitol hill is the chief concern!
Congratulations to the people of Venezuela!
For your transparent, open and honest election system. (Can't say the same for my own country, the U.S.--alas!). And for your vision, leadership and courage in defending your own democracy, for your great achievements in social justice, and for helping your region to move in the direction of economic and political integration--so important to the sovereignty of each country (strength in numbers) and to a prosperous future for Latin America. You and your Bolivarian allies are the leaders in this hemisphere now, in every way. You have chosen peace, democracy and fairness, while the U.S., which has often bullied and grievously harmed your country and others in Latin America, has suffered economic meltdown, at the hands of our corpo/fascists, after they chose unjust war. You have been an inspiration to those of us trapped in this 'armed madhouse' (as Greg Palast called the U.S. under the Bush Junta). Many of us know who made the Bolivarian revolution, and who has courageously and peacefully defended it, when necessary. It is you, the people.
And you have today asserted the right to choose whomever you want as leaders--a right our Founders gave us, until the Republican Party took it away, by imposing a term limit on the president, in the mid-1950s, so that we could never have a "New Deal" here in the U.S. ever again. One of our greatest presidents, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who ran for and won four terms in office, was the leader of that "New Deal." It was FDR who said, "Organized money hates me--and I welcome their hatred!" That is the kind of president we all need these days. Your president, Hugo Chavez, has a similar task--finishing your social justice revolution, so that it cannot be taken away from you. My best to you and to President Chavez in that endeavor. Hold fast to your goal of creating a better world, where all may prosper. The whole world is watching!
Democracia
Chavez is a brave man given every thing he says and does. I think if the US hasn't directly intevened militarily in VE is because he is so outspoken that it would basically confirm his accusations of the US. I guess Canada, India and all those European countries that don't have term limits are living in Tyranny as well.. I think Chavez and his supporters should be more sentive to those who voted "no" because it is almost half of the country...
Term Limits Do Not Equal Democracy
Venezuela can be democratic and have not term limits at the same time. It's not like Chavez is dissolving the government like Hitler did. I mean, really, Americans have to time to think before they spout out their ideology. As long as Chavez wins the election without rigging it, and as long he respects the constitution and democratic process, without using force against his rivals, he is democratic.