VENEZUELA: President Hugo Chavez casts his vote in Venezuela's much-anticipated referendum that could allow him to remain in power as long as he continues to win elections

President Hugo Chavez casts his vote in Venezuela's much-anticipated referendum that could allow him to remain in power as long as he continues to win elections. President Hugo Chavez arrived to vote on Sunday (December 02) with his children and grandchildren in a tightly contested referendum on whether to allow the left-wing leader to stay in power for as long as he keeps winning elections or hand him his first defeat at the polls. Wearing his signature fire-red shirt, Chavez voted quickly and was playful with his grandchild as well as the with the media. "I would like to send a warm hello to the international observers and I thank them for being here with us, there is a good number of observers from some 50 countries," Chavez said. He added: "We will wait the results tonight and I am sure that they will be ready early considering the Venezuelan electoral system, one of the most modern in the world, one of the most transparent of the world and later, as soon as the electoral council emits the results, we will accept them regardless of the outcome." The anti-Washington firebrand, who has easily won one election after another against a fragmented opposition, is in the hardest campaign of his life as he moves to deepen his self-styled revolution by reforming the constitution. He predicts he will win by 10 percentage points but most polls show a neck-and-neck race between backers of the referendum, which Chavez says will usher in "21st century socialism," and those who call it an assault on democracy. Voters were awakened by a predawn state-ordered bugle call mixed with sirens and fake cannon fire to prompt them to head out to their polling stations. International observers invited to Venezuela for the referendum said that all seemed to be moving along well. "Until now, everything is very calm. I have seen that the streets are very calm," Diego Navarro, an international observer from Spain, said. "I congratulate the Venezuelan people because of how they are acting and I am seeing that everything is moving quickly and well and I noticed that the voting process for a person has been carried out within five minutes." With campaigning marred by violence, many Venezuelans fear political turbulence in the OPEC member nation if the losing side refuses to accept the results of Sunday's vote. But early voting appeared to be orderly and under sunny skies. Faced with concerns from even moderate supporters that the reforms will give Chavez too much power, he has tried to portray the vote as a plebiscite on his rule. Chavez, a former paratrooper who has led Venezuela since 1999 and is a close ally of Cuba and Iran, also has escalated his verbal attacks on the U.S. government and opponents at home to rally followers behind him. A "Yes" vote would scrap limits on how long Chavez can rule as president and he has said he will stay on for decades if Venezuelans keep voting for him. The reforms also would give him control over the central bank and foreign currency reserves bloated by high oil export revenues, reduce the workday to six hours and extend social security benefits to self-employed workers like street vendors. Chavez loyalists already control Congress and critics say he has stacked the Supreme Court and the election council with followers. Opponents believe he would use the new powers to impose dictatorial rule. Many of Chavez's own supporters are unenthusiastic about the reforms and are more concerned about jobs, crime, housing and recent shortages of basic foods. The opposition has long been divided but was boosted by an anti-Chavez student movement that emerged earlier this year when he shut down Venezuela's most-viewed television station. Chavez, 53, leads a growing anti-U.S. bloc in South America and his leftist allies in Ecuador and Bolivia also are trying to use constitutional rewrites to increase presidential powers and extend state control of energy resources. Chavez accuses the Bush administration of planning to meddle with the referendum vote and threatened to halt oil exports to the United States. He froze relations with Spain after King Juan Carlos publicly told him to "shut up" at a recent summit, and he threatened on Saturday to expel Spanish oil company Repsol from Venezuela if a right-wing party returns to power in Spain. He has also cut diplomatic ties with neighboring Colombia after its conservative president, Alvaro Uribe, ejected Chavez from his role as mediator in talks aimed at freeing hostages held by left-wing Colombian guerrillas.

ITN Source | December 3, 2007

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