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Hugo Chavez Held in Check as Venezuelans Reject Constitutional Referendum
The people of Venezuela voted to shoot down a constitutional referendum that would have ended presidential term limits and opened the door for current president Hugo Chavez to seek re-election when his term expires in 2012.
Many feared that had Chavez seen the referendum pass he would have grabbed an even greater control on the country and continued to steer it towards a more extreme form of socialism. By a 51 percent to 49 percent vote, Venezuelans favored following their current constitution that places restrictions of presidential terms.
Chavez was voted in a President in 1998 and after being re-elected twice he will not be allowed to seek office again when his term is up in 2012.
Sunday’s vote produced a large turnout of university students who had been calling for the referendum to be shot down. With Chavez nationalizing oil, telephone and power companies there were several people who felt the President was threatening the very democracy of the country.
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