Democracy News

Venezuelan Voters Pass Amendment to Drop Term Limits  
By Heather Konjura
February 19, 2009 | Printer Friendly

On Monday, February 16, 2009, Hugo Chávez celebrated an election victory that will allow him to seek another term as president.  Reuters writes that the official election results showed the amendment passing with 54 percent and will allow all public officials to run for re-election as many times as they want.  This win comes after a failed attempt to drop term limits in December 2007. With the results of this week’s election, Mr. Chávez vows to rule for decades and pledged to repay his poor backers by combating their biggest concern, crime.  Venezuela has one of the world's worst murder rates.

The opposition, which was spearheaded by an inexperienced and underfinanced student movement, said Mr. Chávez’s win was secured with huge government funding and television coverage.  Furthermore, The Associated Press writes that the pressure Chávez placed on the 2 million public employees and his frequent presidential speeches that all television stations were required to air greatly influenced the outcome.

According to Reuters, “Chávez retains the loyalty of many Venezuelans who depend on him for jobs, pensions, and welfare benefits.”  However, he faces hard decisions that will hurt his supporters.  The Wall Street Journal writes that, according to researchers, Mr. Chávez will be forced to devalue the nation's currency, which will put basic items out of reach for people with low incomes.  In the past, Mr. Chávez bolstered his popularity by spending the nation's oil wealth on things like subsidized food, free health care, tens of thousands of welfare jobs and gasoline at 10 cents a gallon.  With the plunging price of oil, Mr. Chávez is trying to avoid cutting areas that benefit the poor and has ordered the central bank to transfer $12 billion in reserves to a fund for social programs.  Other options for raising revenue, such as reducing the subsidy on gasoline or raising sales taxes, would also hurt the poor. 

The New York Times writes that “Mr. Chávez’s victory is a decisive one that could propel him beyond the end of his current six-year term in 2013.  “With the courts, the legislature, and the election council all under his influence, and now with no limits on his re-election, officials say Chávez is virtually unstoppable,” writes The Associated Press.

References:

The Wall Street Journal – Venezuela's Chávez Tackles Lean Times

The New York Times – Chávez Looks Beyond 2013 as He Faces Serious Challenges

Reuters – Chávez Hails Venezuela Vote Win Slammed by Rivals

The Associated Press – Chávez Calls Venezuela Vote Mandate for Socialism