Posted on 12/02/2007 9:37:41 PM PST by james500
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez lost a tight vote on Sunday in a referendum on giving him new powers and scrapping term limits on his left-wing rule.
The national electoral authority said early on Monday the "No" camp won 51 percent of the vote compared to the pro-Chavez "Yes" camp's 49 percent.
It said the trend could not be reserved and declared Chavez the loser.
The referendum vote on a raft of reforms would have allowed Chavez to run for reelection indefinitely, control Venezuela's foreign currency reserves, appoint loyalists over regional elected officials and censor the media if he declares an emergency.
Chavez has said he wants to rule for life and turn Venezuela into a socialist state. But defeat will likely put the Cuba ally under intense pressure to slow or halt his self-declared socialist revolution and step down when his term ends in 2013.
Chavez called the referendum vote "a photo finish".
(Additional reporting by Fabian Andres Cambero, Patricia Rondon and Jorge Silva, Writing by Saul Hudson; Editing by Kieran Murray)
It seems that Chavez finally bit off more than he could chew.
This endless blabbing is driving me mad, but I keep watching him. It reminds me of Clinton’s long goodbye on the day Bush was sworn in.
What’s a Hugo Ego to do.
What channel are you watching it on? Is it available in the US to watch the pig squirm?
Give him time. Totalitarians don't care about election returns anyway, not really. He'll appoint some judge to rule the outcome invalid.
Link is at post 19.
The idiot can’t even pull off being a dictator.
Thank you.
LOL. He will leave office on a slab or in chains.
Sorry. Ya se acabo.
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Supporters of an opposition freedom-loving group celebrate after winning in Caracas December 2, 2007. Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez lost a tight vote on Sunday in a referendum on giving him new powers and scrapping term limits on his left-wing rule. REUTERS/Jose Miguel Gomez (VENEZUELA)
Chavez delayed the results and forced them to whittle down the margin of defeat. They even admitted as much in the announcement.
Then he took over the airwaves immediately. And gave a 1 HOUR CONCESSION SPEECH. Which is on quick review, a new world record.
Perhaps a mentally unstable guy who straps a fake bomb to his chest and demands to talk? If he can't round one up, I'm sure the Great Pansuit would be happy to lend hers.
Forgot to say: ALL OF HOLLYWOOD DISTRESSED, IN TEARS.
I imagine that there will some kind of violence (a faked coup attempt or provoking an uprising in some part of the country) or he’ll “uncover a vast plot” and that will be the trigger for martial law.
Except Maria Conchita Alfonso who has been on the airwaves and television telling the world what a dangerous man Chavez is. God Bless her. Sean Penn and Danny Glover can screw off. Dictator loving jerks.
Oh thank you God!
I thought “por ahor” means “so far”...but close enough.
LIMITS OF 21ST CENTURY REVOLUTION
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/opinion/03cohen.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
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