CARACAS, Venezuela,Monday, Dec. 3 —(New York Times)- [1] Voters in this country narrowly defeated a proposed overhaul to the constitution in a contentious referendum over granting President Hugo Chávez [2] sweeping new powers, the Election Commission announced early Monday.It was the first major electoral defeat in the nine years of his presidency. Voters rejected the 69 proposed amendments 51 to 49 percent.
There was a good deal of back and forth, last night, over whether or not the thing had passed. Apparently, the loss came as something of a shock to the Chavez regime, who at the last minute started canceling “victory dance” press conferences .
Interestingly enough, Al Jazeera was announcing for Chavez, before anyone else even tried. Now why would the radical Islam world be interested in propping up Chavez, we wonders, yes, we wonders….
So, the real story here, is that despite all the pressure that government can bring to bear, [3] along with the sympathetic press, Chavez still lost. The investigations into the corruption incidental to this vote will be quite interesting indeed. Of course, we’ll have to wait till 2012 for that to happen…. that’s when Chavez’ current term ends.
Well, there’s another possibility; Chavez could simply decide to hold another vote on the issue.
Memeorandum has lots of reax.