Chavez loses referendum and bid to rule until 2050 - by Rory Carrol
Voters narrowly rejected the proposed constitutional changes in yesterday's vote, an unprecedented defeat for a leader accustomed to landslides. After a night of political drama, election officials announced the opposition had won 51% and the government 49%, a result that slammed the brakes on Chávez's self-styled revolution.The rebuff will oblige Chávez to stand down when his term ends in 2013 rather than continuing to run for office until 2050 as he had hoped. It will also embolden the opposition and open fissures within his movement now that he has shown to be politically mortal.Three months ago an opposition victory seemed unthinkable, but a loose coalition of students, small political parties and the Catholic church gained traction. Olivia Goumbri of the Government funded Information office said: "The fact that we see that an effort Chavez proposed has not gone through, I think really is a testament to the amount of democratic processes that are going on in Venezuela".
Note EU-Digest: Chavez lost fair and square. To his benefit must be said that he did not manipulate or contest the election results. The elections were reviewed by some 100 electoral observers from 39 countries in Latin America, Europe and the US, plus hundreds of Venezuelan observers, the National Electoral Council said. EU-trade with Venezuela grew by 46.9 % last year to € 6.4 billion. The high growth was mainly due to a strong - 73.3 % - increase of imports from Venezuela.
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