A funny thing happened to Hugo Chavez on the way to unlimited perpetual power. The wannabe dictator of Venezuela made the mistake of asking the people … and the people said NO. The vote was close, 51% – 49% against forfeiting individual liberties. Still, it was a setback to the power hungry madman. Unfortunately, he can hold another referendum next year and the year after that, until he wins.
The New York Sun reports that Chavez was defeated in bid to expand power.
Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Chavez said today he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to let him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.
“I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense,” he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51% to 49%.
Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight — with 88% of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by an elections council chief, Tibisay Lucena.
Some shed tears. Others began chanting: “And now he’s going away!”
Without the overhaul, Mr. Chavez will be barred from running again in 2012.
The BBC has the same story with a headline Chavez defeated over reform vote. Reform?
