VENEZUELA: PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ SEEKS POSSIBILITY OF MORE RE-ELECTIONS.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is preparing a campaign to run for re-election later this year, and he has informally asked the people of Venezuela to decide if he can pursue the office again after that term. In May, Chavez said that voters should have a chance to decide if he could run again after the 2012 term expires, potentially extending his mandate--contingent on continuous re-elections--until 2031.
If opposition boycotts, Chavez wants referendum
Chavez said on May 6, while speaking at a stadium packed with supporters in central Lara state, that Venezuelan voters should have the chance to decide whether he should govern the country for the next 25 years. Chavez said he would hold a referendum to put the question of his remaining in office to Venezuelans if the opposition pulls out of upcoming presidential elections. "I am going to ask you, all the people, if you agree with Chavez being president until 2031," he said.
It was not clear whether Chavez was talking about holding a legally binding vote to eliminate term limits or proposing a plebiscite. Chavez said the day before that he might seek "indefinite" re-election through a referendum if the opposition boycotts the presidential vote. The Venezuelan Constitution allows a president to be re-elected only once in immediate succession. Chavez is eligible to run for re-election to another six-year term in December, but if he wins he would not be able to run again in 2012.
"I would call a national referendum to have the people decide if I can continue here indefinitely or if I have to go after six years," he said.
Opposition leaders accuse Chavez, a former paratroop commander first elected in 1998, of becoming increasingly authoritarian and opening dangerous divisions along class lines in Venezuela--the world's fifth-largest oil exporter. Polls indicate Chavez is likely to win the Dec. 3 election, and international observers have signed off on recent votes as fair.
Chavez will likely be able to pass a rewrite of laws governing presidential succession, given that a 2005 boycott by opposition parties gave parties allied to the president unanimous control of the Asamblea Nacional (AN, see NotiSur, 2005-12-16). He has also had repeated success at the ballot box in elections and during a recall referendum and maintains strong support among the country's poor majority. Skyrocketing oil prices have led to huge economic growth rates in recent years, following years of economic decline after a...
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