[Marxism] Race too close to call in Venezuela vote: Officials

[Walter Lippmann]

Race too close to call in Venezuela vote: Officials
http://www.thestar.com/News/article/281969
 
Dec 02, 2007 11:00 PM
associated press


CARACAS, Venezuela – Hugo Chavez sought to cement his power and end
presidential term limits in a vote Sunday that the government said
was too close to call.

One opposition leader likened the vote on constitutional changes to a
photo finish. Another told The Associated Press that initial results
showed the referendum was headed for defeat.

But caravans of Chavez's supporters took to the streets after most
polls closed honking horns and blaring celebratory music in
anticipation of victory. 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, hours after the official close, and the electoral council was
still awaiting results from 20 percent of them.

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.

Chavez's opponents fear a win by the president could mean a plunge
toward dictatorship. Supporters have 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.''