[NYTr] Venez: Constitutional Referendum Defeated in Close Vote

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

[Both AP and Reuters are now reporting a very close "NO" vote on the
Constitutional reforms, 51% to 49% "YES."  This is apparently an
official result issued by the CNE.  

Both reports are below.  Third item is the Simon Romero negative spin
of the day from an hour ago when a serious, close election was
obviously close, and Romero called that a sign that Hugo Chavez
controlled "almost all the political levers in the country."  Which
must explain why he lost. Right, Simon? 

No details yet on the actual final turnout (clearly there was much
less abstentionism y Chavez foes than in previous elections) or if the
vote tallies were the same on both "blocs" of proposed reforms.
-NYTransfer]


Reuters via Yahoo - Dec 3, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071203/wl_nm/venezuela_referendum_dc

Chavez loses vote on new powers in Venezuela

CARACAS (Reuters) - 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 [reversed] 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)


                                 ***

AP via MSNBC - Dec 3, 2007 00:38 a.m.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22066948/

Voters reject Chavez's constitutional changes

Constitutional changes would have broadened his power over Venezuela

The Associated Press
updated 12:38 a.m. ET, Mon., Dec. 3, 2007

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez suffered a stinging defeat
in a vote on constitutional changes that would have let him run for
re-election indefinitely, the chief of National Electoral Council said
Monday.

Voters defeated the sweeping measures by a vote of 51 percent to 49
percent, Tibisay Lucena said. Turnout was just 56 percent, Lucena said.

Chavez called it a “photo finish” immediately after the results were
announced.

The referendum on constitutional changes was a critical test for a
leader bent on turning this major U.S. oil provider into a socialist
state. An emboldened opposition and clashes during student-led protests
in recent weeks had prompted fears of bitter conflict in Chavez’s
closest race in years.

Before word came, tensions grew as hours passed without any results
being announced hours after the official close of voting.

The opposition said it was closely monitoring the returns.

“The result of the referendum is close,” Vice President Jorge Rodriguez
said from Chavez’s campaign headquarters. “We will respect the result,
whatever it is — even if it’s by one single vote ... We call on the
other side to do the same.”

He said some polling stations were still open to allow voting Sunday
night and the electoral council was still awaiting results from 20
percent of them.

Opposition politician Henrique Capriles, mayor of the Caracas district
of Baruta, said late Sunday that it was time for the electoral council
to issue its first results, noting that “more than 97 percent of the
33,000 polling stations are automated.”

‘Very tight’

Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Caracas district of
Chacao, claimed that results seen by election monitors “indicate the
’no’ vote is going to win.” Julio Borges, a former lawmaker and
presidential contender, said “the photo is very tight.”

An emboldened opposition and clashes during student-led protests in
recent weeks prompted fears of bitter conflict if either side disputed
the results.

Caravans of Chavez’s supporters took to the streets after most polls
closed honking horns and blaring celebratory music in anticipation of
victory.

Chavez’s opponents feared a win by the president could mean a plunge
toward dictatorship. Supporters had faith that Chavez would use the
reforms to deepen grass-roots democracy and more equitably spread
Venezuela’s oil wealth.

The changes would help transform the major U.S. oil provider into a
socialist state. They would create new forms of communal property, let
Chavez handpick local leaders under a redrawn political map, permit
civil liberties to be suspended under extended states of emergency and
allow Chavez to seek re-election indefinitely. Otherwise, he cannot run
again in 2012.

Chavez warned opponents ahead of the vote he would not tolerate
attempts to incite violence, and threatened to cut off oil exports to
the U.S. if Washington interferes. Chavez calls those who resist his
socialist agenda pawns of President Bush.

“He’s going to be an elected dictator,” 77-year-old voter Ruben
Rozenberg said of Chavez. The retired blue jeans maker, who emigrated
from Cuba in 1961, said that although Chavez’s revolution is peaceful
compared to that of Fidel Castro, “we’ve been violated all around” by
the Venezuelan leader’s progressive consolidation of power.

Across town, in a pro-Chavez slum, 40-year-old Jorge Blanco said Chavez
“is giving power to the people” through the reforms.

“He opened that little door and now we’re free.” Of the wealthy elite,
Blanco said: “What they fear is losing power.”

The government touted pre-election polls showing Chavez with an
advantage, while surveys cited by the opposition indicated strong
resistance — unfamiliar territory for a leader who easily won
re-election last year with 63 percent of the vote.

Casting his ballot, Chavez called the electronic voting system “one of
the most modern in the world, one of the most transparent in the world.”

His opponents have questioned the National Electoral Council’s
impartiality, however, especially after Chavez named Rodriguez, its
former chief, his vice president in January.

About 100 electoral observers from 39 countries in Latin America,
Europe and the United States were on hand, the electoral council said.
Absent were the Organization of American States and the European Union,
which have monitored past votes.

All was reported calm during voting but 45 people were detained, most
for committing ballot-related crimes like “destroying electoral
materials,” said Gen. Jesus Gonzalez, chief of a military command
overseeing security.

At a polling station in one politically divided Caracas neighborhood,
Chavez supporters shouted “Get out of here!” to opposition backers who
stood nearby aiming to monitor the vote count. A few dozen Chavistas
rode by on motorcycles with bandanas and hats covering their faces,
some throwing firecrackers.

Opponents — including Roman Catholic leaders, press freedom groups,
human rights groups and prominent business leaders — fear the reforms
would grant Chavez unchecked power and threaten basic rights.

Cecilia Goldberger, a 56-year-old voting in affluent eastern Caracas,
said Venezuelans were being hoodwinked and do not really understand how
Chavez’s power grab will affect them.

She resented pre-dawn, get-out-the-vote tactics by Chavistas, including
fireworks and reveille blaring from speakers mounted on cruising trucks.

“I refuse to be treated like cattle and I refuse to be part of a
communist regime,” the Israeli-born Goldberger said, adding that she
and her businessman husband hope to leave the country.

Chavez sought to capitalize on his personal popularity ahead of the
vote.

He is seen by many as a champion of the poor who has redistributed more
oil wealth than any other leader in memory. Chavez, 53, says he will
stay in power only as long as Venezuelans keep re-electing him — but
has added that might be until 2050, when he would be 95 years old. The
reforms would also grant Chavez control over the Central Bank and
extend presidential terms from six to seven years.

Many Chavez supporters say he needs more time in office to consolidate
his unique brand of “21st century socialism,” and praise other proposed
changes such as shortening the workday from eight hours to six,
creating a social security fund for millions of informal laborers and
promoting communal councils where residents decide how to spend
government funds.

Tensions have surged in recent weeks as university students led
protests and occasionally clashed with police and Chavista groups.

Some 140,000 soldiers and reservists were posted for the vote, the
Defense Ministry said.

Electoral council chief Tibisay Lucena called the vote “the calmest
we’ve had in the last 10 years.”

© 2007 The Associated Press. 

                           ***

[Expect a Real Quick Rewrite from the New York Times so that they can
reconcile losing an election with total control and dictatorship and
lack of democracy.

If an election result isn't close and it's pro-Chavez, it's a lopsided
vote because elections aren't free and people are intimidated.  If the
opposition is too contentious and disorganized to decide on a
candidate and abstains or stays home, it proves there's no contest and
everything is rigged. 

But if referendum results are closer than prior elections, because of
lower abstentionism and a much more complicated set of questions (69
changes to the Constitution, in two blocs voted on up or down
separately) then that shows how bad Chavez is as well. Even people who
would vote for him personally and approve of him might not like all the
constitutional changes proposed. Especially "bad" is that it was a calm
peaceful, serious election with no one violating laws against releasing
premature results, no violence and no media issuing blatant lies about
results. Romero calls  "MOUNTING TENSION." -NY Transfer]


The New York Slimes, TAKE ONE:

The New York Times - Dec 3, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/03/world/americas/03venezuela.html

For Venezuela, Tension Mounts with Close Vote

By SIMON ROMERO

CARACAS, Venezuela, Monday, Dec. 3 — From the unusually quiet streets
of this capital to the hushed tones of state television announcers,
Venezuela was on edge early Monday as voters awaited the outcome of a
contentious referendum that would give President Hugo Chávez sweeping
new powers.

Hours after the polls closed, the government still had not released
official results, causing political leaders to speculate that the vote
was too close to call.

That would be a stunning development in a country where Mr. Chávez and
his supporters control nearly all of the levers of power.  [MAYBE IT'S
A DEMOCRACY, MR ROMERO, HUH? MAYBE THEY DON'T CONTROL EVERYTHING
AS YOU CLAIM?]

“The result is quarrelsome,” Vice President Jorge Rodríguez said in
comments broadcast on national television. [QUARRELSOME?? HE MEANS
CONTENTIOUS OR CLOSE PERHAPS.]

Opposition leaders were more upbeat. “Tonight, Venezuela has won,” said
Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia State and the opposition’s candidate
in presidential elections last year.

Both supporters and critics of the president pointed to exit polls in
their favor, suggesting a disputed outcome to the vote. [??? ONLY THREE
EXIT POLLS WERE REPORTED, EACH REPORTING A 6-8% MARGIN IN FAVOR OF THE
CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS PROPOSED. THERE WERE NO EXIT POLLS IN "FAVOR" OF
THE OPPONENTS OF CHAVEZ.] Electoral officials said official results
could be released early Monday, after reports from polling stations
around the country trickled in here.

In recent weeks, members of previously splintered opposition movements
joined disillusioned Chávez supporters in an attempt to defeat the
referendum on constitutional changes. The plan would abolish term
limits, allow Mr. Chávez to declare states of emergency for unlimited
periods and increase the state’s role in the economy, among other
measures.

A defeat would slow Mr. Chávez’s socialist-inspired transformation of
the country. Venezuela, once a staunch ally of the United States, has
become a leading opponent of the Bush administration’s policies in the
developing world. It has also taken the most profound leftward turn of
any large Latin American nation in decades.

The streets here were unusually quiet on Sunday evening, adding to the
tension. Supporters of Mr. Chávez gathered around the presidential
palace downtown to await the results, as they have done in past
elections. The occasional blast of fireworks broke the rare silence of
this city.

The referendum followed several weeks of street protests and frenetic
campaigning over the 69 amendments to the Constitution proposed by Mr.
Chávez and his supporters. It caps a year of bold moves by the
president, who forged a single Socialist party among his followers,
forced a television network critical of the government off the public
airwaves, and nationalized oil, telephone and electricity companies.

In Caracas on Sunday, turnout in poorer neighborhoods, where support
for Mr. Chávez is strong, indicated that the referendum was drawing a
mixed response.

“The whole proposal is marvelous,” said Francis Veracierta, 52, a
treasurer at a communal council here, one of thousands of local
governing entities loyal to Mr. Chávez that he created this year. After
awakening to predawn fireworks, she said she joined a line at 6 a.m. to
vote at a school in Petare, an area of sprawling hillside slums here.

“The power is for us in the community,” said Ms. Veracierta, wearing a
red shirt, red cap and belt with Che Guevara’s face on it. She said she
credited Mr. Chávez’s government for giving her a $3,800 loan to start
a small clothing business.

Some of Mr. Chávez’s populist proposals, including an increase in
social security benefits for some workers, have been praised even by
his critics.

Yet turnout in other poor districts was unexpectedly low, indicating
that even the president’s backers were willing to follow him only so
far. Some Chávez supporters expressed concern that if they voted
against the measures they might be retaliated against.  [RIGHT... WITH
A TOTALLY ANONYMOUS ELECTRONIC BALLOT.]

There was no line in front of the voting center at the Cecilio Acosta
school in Petare on Sunday morning, as a few dozen people who had
already voted milled about the street. Some volunteers working the
voting machines sat idle, waiting for more voters to arrive. Other
voting centers in Petare had lines outside, but they were less than
half a block long.

“I’m impressed by the lack of voters,” said Ninoska González, 37, who
sells cigarettes on the street. “This was full last year.” She
described herself as a “Chavista” who voted for the president in last
year’s presidential elections, but said she voted against his proposed
changes on Sunday.

“I don’t agree with some articles,” Ms. González said. Asked about the
measure to pay social security benefits to workers in the informal
economy like her, she said, “That’s a lie.”

Confusion persisted Sunday over the amendments, with a major complaint
among the president’s supporters and critics that they had too little
time to study the proposals.

Unlike in past votes here, this time the government did not invite
observers from the Organization of American States or the European
Union, opening itself to potential claims of fraud. [BUT OBSERVERS FROM
40 COUNTRIES WERE ON HAND.]

The voting seemed to unfold largely without irregularities, though
there were isolated reports of fraud and violence in parts of the
country.

In recent weeks, Mr. Chávez has adopted an increasingly confrontational
tone with critics abroad, who have been multiplying even in friendly
countries with moderate leftist governments like Brazil and Chile.

In the days before the referendum, Mr. Chávez recalled his ambassador
from Colombia and threatened to nationalize the Venezuelan operations
of Spanish banks after Spain’s king told him to shut up during a
meeting. Mr. Chávez said he would cut off oil exports to the United
States in the event of American interference in the vote.

The United States remains the largest buyer of Venezuela’s oil, despite
deteriorating political ties, but that long commercial relationship is
starting to change as Mr. Chávez increases exports of oil to China and
other countries while gradually selling off the oil refineries owned by
Venezuela’s government in the United States.

Venezuela’s political opposition, normally divided among several small
political parties, found common cause in calling on its members to vote
against the amendments. An increasingly defiant student movement also
protested here and in other large interior cities against the proposed
charter.

In a move that alarmed the opposition, electoral officials over the
weekend revoked the observer credentials of Jorge Quiroga, a former
president of Bolivia and an outspoken critic of Mr. Chávez. Mr. Quiroga
accused security forces here of following him after his arrival in
Caracas. “They’ve taken my credential but not my tongue,” Mr. Quiroga
said.  [HERE'S ONE COMPLAINT FROM AN ELECTION "OBSERVER -- AN
ANTI-CHAVEZ FORMER PRESIDENT OF BOLIVIA ]

But Mr. Chávez, whose followers already control many powerful
institutions — the National Assembly, the federal bureaucracy, the
national oil company, the Supreme Court and all but a handful of state
governments — relied on an unrivaled political machine to gather
support for the measures.

Uncertainty over Mr. Chávez’s reforms, meanwhile, has led to
accelerating capital flight as rich Venezuelans and private companies
rush to buy assets abroad denominated in dollars or euros. The
currency, the bolívar, currently trades at about 6,100 to the dollar in
street trading, compared with an official rate of 2,150.

Venezuela’s state-controlled oil industry is also showing signs of
strain, grappling with a purge of opposition management by Mr. Chávez
and a retooling of the state oil company to focus on social welfare
projects while aging oil fields need maintenance.

Petróleos de Venezuela, the state oil company, says it produces 3.3
million barrels a day, but OPEC places its output at just 2.4 million
barrels. And private economists estimate that a third of oil production
goes to meet domestic consumption, which is surging because of a
subsidy that keeps gasoline prices at about seven cents a gallon.

Still, Mr. Chávez already has unprecedented discretionary control over
Venezuela’s oil revenues, valued at more than $60 billion a year.
“Because of its oil, Venezuela has global reach in OPEC and the rest of
Latin America,” said Kenneth R. Maxwell, a professor of Latin American
history at Harvard University.

[Jens Erik Gould contributed reporting.]

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company