Venezuela: Removal of term limits for elected officials - full text
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In a national referendum held in Venezuela on Feb. 15, the majority of voters approved constitutional amendments removing term limits imposed on publicly elected officials. Results published by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Feb. 16 showed that 54.85 per cent of voters approved the constitutional amendments, whilst 45.14 per cent rejected the changes. Voter turnout was 70.33 per cent.
Immediate Context
Under Venezuela's constitution of 1999, elected officials such as the president, governors, and mayors were restricted to a maximum of two terms in office, whilst regional and national legislators were limited to a maximum of three terms.
President Hugo Chávez Frías had promoted the notion of removing term limits as part of his administration's broader attempts to "construct a profoundly different Venezuela" with "Bolivarian socialism" (sometimes called "21st century socialism"). Most notably, a government proposal to remove the two-term presidential limit was amongst a package of 69 constitutional reforms narrowly rejected by voters in a national referendum held in December 2007. Chávez responded to the defeat of December 2007 by saying that the reform proposals remained "alive", prompting speculation that he might try other ways of introducing the constitutional reforms. Then, on Nov. 30, 2008, following regional elections in which the ruling Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won the majority of states and municipalities, Chávez called for the holding of a referendum on the question of removing term limits for all elected officials. The National Assembly (the unicameral legislature), which was dominated by pro-presidential legislators elected in December 2005, approved the holding of the fresh referendum (by 156 votes to six, with five abstentions) in January.
Reaction and Outlook
Shortly after the referendum results were announced, President Chávez said that the "doors of the future" were "wide open". In a reference to his newly established constitutional right to seek a third consecutive term in office (in presidential elections scheduled for 2012), Chávez confirmed that "unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate".
Some opposition legislators complained that, in the build-up to the referendum, the government had used state institutions, such as publicly owned television stations, to promote a "yes" vote, whilst government officials countered that the opposition had used privately owned media companies to promote a "no" vote. According to some estimates, private media companies in Venezuela, most of which were "pro-opposition", outnumbered public media organisations in Venezuela by a margin of 973 to five.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the referendum was "characterised by strong participation", which demonstrated "yet again, the vitality of democracy in Venezuela", whilst officials from the US State Department acknowledged that the referendum had been "fully consistent" with "democratic process" and praised "the civic spirit" in which voting was held.
Nicanor Moscoso, the president of the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts, confirmed that the "referendum complied with international standards and national legislation", whilst Paraguayan electoral observer Hector Lacognata described the "Venezuelan electoral process" as an "example for Latin America and the rest of the world", the Venezuela Analysis website reported on Feb. 17.
Historical Context
Lt-Col Hugo Chávez Frías first rose to prominence in Venezuela in February 1992, when he led a failed coup attempt against the government of former President Carlos Andrés Pérez (1974-79; 1989-93), which had overseen an economic crisis that saw inflation rise to more than 80 per cent and real salaries decrease by more than 40 per cent. Shortly after the coup attempt, Chávez negotiated the terms of the surrender and addressed the nation in a live television broadcast from the ministry of defence. During his address, Chávez accepted full "responsibility" for the coup attempt, famously saying that the armed rebellion had failed "for now", which had the affect of catapulting him into the consciousness of Venezuelans as a natural leader.
Chávez was imprisoned for his role in the coup, but, from his prison cell, he openly supported a second failed coup attempt, launched by fellow military dissidents in November 1992. Former President Rafael Caldera Rodríguez (1969-74; 1994-99) pardoned Chávez and other military dissidents in March 1994, as part of his government's attempts to improve relations with senior figures in Venezuela's military establishment.
In October 1997 Chávez founded the Fifth Republic Movement (MVR), which, as part of the left-wing Patriotic Front coalition, in November 1998 won more votes than any other party in legislative elections to the National Congress (Venezuela's former bicameral legislature).
Chávez swept into power in December 1998 winning more than 56 per cent of the first round vote in presidential elections. During his election campaign, Chávez worried Venezuela's domestic and international business communities with pledges of radical economic and political reforms.
Chávez was inaugurated as the president in February 1999 and immediately issued a presidential decree calling for the holding of a national referendum on the creation of a constituent assembly to rewrite Venezuela's constitution. When the referendum was held, in December 1999, voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution, which Chávez said was designed to strengthen democracy, introduce essential civil and human rights, and eliminate widespread corruption.
In presidential elections held in July 2000, under the terms of the 1999 constitution, President Chávez was re-elected for a new six-year term in office, after winning almost 60 per cent of the first round vote.
A coup in April 2002, led by right-wing political parties, business leaders, and some senior military leaders, temporarily removed Chávez from power, but the president returned to his post after a dramatic and popular mobilisation of support for him on the streets of Caracas. Immediately after the coup, Pedro Carmona Estanga, the then president of Fedecamaras (the Venezuelan Federation of Associations and Chambers of Commerce and Industry - an employers' organisation), illegally declared himself as Venezuela's new president and dissolved all three branches of the government. Carmona was placed under house arrest when Chávez was restored to office, but he later fled to Colombia, where he was granted political asylum.
Opponents of Chávez in December 2002 launched a campaign designed to sabotage Venezuela's oil industry, supporting a nationwide general strike, including at Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA - the Venezuelan state energy company), in a bid to force Chávez to resign or to announce the holding of a fresh election. However, Chávez announced in February 2003 that the "oil coup" had been defeated, before appointing a new board of directors to PDVSA. Attempts by the opposition to remove Chávez from power were frustrated again in August 2004, when, in an opposition-supported national referendum, the CNE confirmed that 59.25 per cent of voters rejected the notion of recalling the president from office.
In legislative elections to the 167-member National Assembly, held in December 2005, Chávez's MVR won 114 seats. In presidential elections held December 2006 Chávez was overwhelmingly re-elected for a new six-year term in office, after winning more than 62 per cent of the popular vote. He was inaugurated for his second consecutive six-year term during a ceremony held in the National Assembly in January 2007.
Since winning power, Chávez had pursued a range of left-wing policies, including the redistribution of idle land to Venezuela's poor majority and the renegotiation of contracts with foreign oil companies operating in Venezuela to increase the state's share of the wealth being generated from the country's natural resources. Chávez also launched a series of social programmes, including those designed to improve literacy, access to education, housing, and healthcare. Chávez's radical agenda was popular amongst Venezuela's poor majority but it incensed his political opponents, at home and abroad, as well as domestic and foreign business leaders.
Chávez's popularity in Venezuela was deeply rooted in a perception that he was a leader who wanted to protect the interests of Venezuela and its citizens more than he wanted to protect the interests of the Venezuelan and international business communities. His frequent use of "firebrand" or "populist" rhetoric, to publicly condemn the policies of senior international figures such as former US President George W Bush and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, reinforced his popularity amongst many Venezuelans who supported his left-wing agenda.
