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Venezuelan referendum ends presidential term limits

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Wednesday, February 18, 2009

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A referendum held Sunday in Venezuela, has resulted in a change to the Constitution of Venezuela. The change ends term limits for elected officials including the President of Venezuela.

The official results showed 6,319,636 in favor with 5,198,006 opposed, yielding a 54.8% to 45.1% balance. 30.1% of the approximately 17 million voters abstained.

Hugo Chávez in 2008
Image: Agência Brasil.

President Hugo Chávez will now be allowed to run for re-election in 2012. A similar referendum in 2007 was narrowly defeated.

"The doors of the future are wide open," President Chávez declared from the balcony of the Miraflores Palace after the results were announced. "In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate."

Ahead of the vote, opposition leader, Leopoldo López, told BBC News: "In 10 years we have had 15 elections, 15, and this has been the most unequal, the most abusive campaign of all. So that's why you are seeing more propaganda, more campaigning, more advertisement for the 'yes' vote."

However, a United States Department of State spokesperson said that the election was a "fully democratic" process despite troubling reports of intimidation of the opposition.


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This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.
Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

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