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December 2, 2007

An Incredible Victory

This just came across the wire:

21:37 PST Venezuelan Voters Reject Chavez's Constitutional Reform

By Raul Gallegos and Darcy Crowe

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CARACAS (Dow Jones)--Venezuelans voted to reject President Hugo Chavez's constitutional reform proposal by a slim margin Sunday, marking the first electoral defeat in the president's nine years in office.

Venezuelans who opposed Chavez's reform, which he had said was a cornerstone for his plans to guide the Andean country towards socialism, managed to block the measure by a narrow margin.

The National Electoral Council president, Tibisay Lucena, said in televised remarks that although the total vote tally was not finished "the trend was irreversible."

President Hugo Chavez accepted defeat in televised remarks shortly after the electoral authority announced the results.

The 69 articles included in the reform were divided in two blocs that Venezuelans voted on. In the first bloc, which encompassed the majority of the proposed economic reforms, opponents of changing the country's charter won with 50.7% of the vote, while supporters only obtained 49.29%.

In the second bloc, which granted the executive branch the power to suspend basic legal rights under a state of emergency among other changes, opponents to the reform won with 51.01% of the vote, while supporters obtained 48.94%.

Reforms would have let Chavez run for office indefinitely, control foreign reserves, censor the media in times he deemed were an emergency, appoint cronies over locally elected officials, and the list goes on.

I'm still in shock both Chavez and the CNE have admitted defeat. What a victory for liberty in Venezuela.

More on Chavez here, here, and here.

Update: Well, I guess this should have been expected. More headlines:

Venezuela's President Says Reform Plan Defeated `For Now'

Venezuela's Chavez: Opposition Groups Still A Minority

Venezuela's Chavez: Country Still Building `Socialism'
.
Venezuela's Chavez: Constitutional Proposal `Still Alive'

Posted by Peter Mork at December 2, 2007 9:46 PM

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