Posted on 12/04/2005 8:29:38 PM PST by minus_273
Parties allied to President Hugo Chavez say they have won all 167 seats in the country's parliament, after elections boycotted by the opposition. None of the five main opposition parties took part, accusing the electoral body of bias.
Only about 25% of registered voters cast a ballot.
A two-thirds majority in parliament will allow Mr Chavez to remove the current constitutional limit of two presidential terms in office.
But the opposition says the low turnout deprives the election of legitimacy.
"Venezuela is speaking with its silence," said Julio Borges, a prominent opposition member.
'Resisting death'
The Fifth Republic Movement, Mr Chavez's party, won 114 seats in the 167 single-chamber National Assembly, according to senior party member, Willian Lara.
Security was stepped up on the polling day
He said the remainder of seats had been won by allies of the president.
Previously, Mr Chavez's supporters had only held 89 seats.
If confirmed, these results would mean that Mr Chavez would have the two-thirds majority he needs to amend the constitution without needing to court other parties' support.
About 14.5 million Venezuelans were eligible to vote.
The BBC's Greg Morsbach in Caracas says people queued to vote in deprived parts of the city, where support for the president is usually strong.
Polling stations in middle class urban areas were almost empty, our correspondent says.
The National Electoral Council said 556 out of 5,500 candidates pulled out of the congressional vote.
Opposition leaders accused the electoral authorities of favouring pro-government candidates.
Mr Chavez condemned the boycott as a Washington-backed plot to destabilise his regime - a charge the US rejected.
"These old parties, they are already dead, but they are still hanging on, resisting death," Mr Chavez told reporters after voting.
"Now they've accelerated their own demise."
Pipeline blast
The government deployed thousands of soldiers nationwide to maintain order during the vote.
Hours before voting began, an oil pipeline in the west of the country was damaged in a blast, which officials claimed was a sabotage attack.
The poll is being monitored by observers from the EU and the Organisation of American States, who declared it legitimate.
However, the opposition group Sumate says there were some irregularities.
If we ever find out that Chavez is a Sith Lord, Jimmy Carter will be his apprentice.
Wow. Some "populist" movement. I'm sure DU'ers are just a blue dress away from declaring it a mandate.
Did anyone ever doubt that "term limits" were out the window?
This is serious business now. If the parties are boycotting the elections it means one of two things; they can't mount an effective campaign, or they no longer have any faith in the voting process. Or both.
Since they have already seen Chavez' voting machines in action, and since opposition leaders are almost all being threatened with jail under one pretext or another, that means they are effectively in a state of revolution.
In a country where the government is willing to shoot, there is no way back to rule of law that does not include bloodshed, most probably the blood of the opposition parties. If they are not willing to face Chavist bullets, and Chavist jail cells, they have little choice now but to start processing their visas for the US or Spain.
Was there ever any doubt Chavez was prepared to gun down his fellow citizens? I thought that was well established in 1992, when he launched his putsch that cost the lives of many of his fellow soldiers, killed by his people, by his command. If you are willing to gun down your brother soldiers, if you are willing to gun down civilians at a peaceful march (killing 30-odd people according to the press, many times that according to people who were there), why would you blink at rigging a voting machine?
Coincidentally I am working with a group of Venezuelan emigres. They are top notch people, very decent. They were pushed out by Chavez, it has become very difficult for opposition people to make a living inside their own country. A few had to worry about warrants being issued, although some of that has dissipated since they are no longer a threat.
The people who remain periodically put on their red berets and show up at Chavez ralleys and shout right along with the rest. They hate it but they need their jobs. If anyone wondered what would happen when Castro died, we need wonder no longer. He isn't even dead yet, and already he is reborn.
Russia and China are jumping up and down with joy right now.
This is a terrible chapter for Venezuela and the world.
He's locked up the country and destroyed democracy.
I think VZ lost its best and only chance to get rid of this megalomaniac in the 2002 brief removal of chavez which was spectacularly bungled. If the general strike had been started IMMEDIATELY upon his return to power, instead of waiting 6-8 months,maybe that would have worked too.
everything since then has been been an uphill struggle with no reason to expect success. Chavez is a lifer. I imagine he wanted to provoke the opposition parties into boycotting this election. Now they are completely out of the government, period.
The vote would have turned out the same, boycott or not, the government would have seen to it. As Stalin said, it doesn't matter who votes, only who counts the votes.
That is how Saddam achieved 100%.
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