Hugo Chavez's ambition to lead Venezuela for decades to come hung in the balance last night as the country voted in a constitutional referendum that could abolish presidential term limits, paving the way for his indefinite re-election.Opinion polls gave him a slight edge after a controversial campaign that pitted student protesters against police and turned the state into a "red machine" to deliver a yes vote.
| One person, one vote, one last time ... |
The 54-year-old former tank commander has spoken of ruling in Venezuela beyond 2030.
Yesterday military-style bugles sounding from government vehicles roused people from dawn and queues swiftly formed outside polling stations. Activists in red T-shirts handed flyers with 10 reasons to vote yes. Number one: "Chavez loves us and love is repaid with love." Number two: "Chavez is incapable of doing us harm."
| You have to be really dense to write that kind of stuff, and even more dense to believe it. |
"I am going to support my president. Thanks to him I have free healthcare," said Marisabel Torres, 56, a housewife in Caracas. Her husband Ricardo, 56, a courier, was voting no. "Chavez has screwed this country enough already."
In December 2007 Venezuelans narrowly rejected a similar referendum covering presidential re-election - which would have removed the limit on the number of times a president could stand for office - prompting an opposition slogan for the latest campaign: "No means no." This time the president widened the scope, to abolish term limits for mayors and governors.
The opposition say that the Chavez-appointed electoral authority has ignored abuse of state resources.
But, despite collapsing oil revenues, which have blown a hole in the government budget, and warnings of stagflation, the president said a yes vote would bring a bounty. "Today is the beginning of the time of big harvests," he said.