If referendum passes, President Hugo Chavez could seek re-election
 Ariana Cubillos / AP Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks at a news conference in the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on Saturday. Venezuelans will hold a referendum Sunday on a constitutional amendment that could allow Chavez and all other elected officials to run for re-election indefinitely. |
Critics say removing term limits on the president and all other officials would distort democracy. Chavez — first elected in 1998 — said the proposed constitutional amendment would deepen democracy by giving voters more choice. Pre-election polls suggested a tight race.
Chavez urged Venezuelans in a newspaper column Sunday to let him run again in 2012 — and beyond.
"After a 'yes' victory, we can really say with the voice of a united people: The future starts to become ours!" Chavez wrote. He called the referendum a choice between "revolutionary democracy" and a "counterrevolutionary attempt to put on the brakes."
The blare of recorded bugles jarred Venezuelans awake before dawn, and long lines formed as the polls opened. Voters said the future of their country is at stake.
Thanks to Chavez, said 52-year-old Yira Guerra, her two children have access to a free college education.
"My son got a bachelor's degree," Guerra said proudly. She fears Chavez's social programs would vanish under another leader.
Critics say allowing Chavez to extend his time in office would be dangerous.
"We don't want anybody to stay perpetually in power," said Carmen Gilarte, 50, who complained of government corruption and rampant crime.
"We have to give opportunities to the next generation," she said.
Chavez shrugged off such criticism, pointing out that Franklin Roosevelt was elected U.S. president four times.
"Ten years is nothing. I don't know what they're complaining about," he said Saturday.
Without a constitutional amendment, Chavez would have to leave office in 2013. He lost a broader referendum in December 2007 that also sought to abolish presidential term limits. The current constitution, itself created by a Chavez-backed referendum in 1999, allows two six-year terms.
Chavez says he needs the amendment to complete Venezuela's transition to socialism — a process he has said could take another decade or more.
"It's a little change in the constitution. But the fact that it's little doesn't mean it won't have great repercussions in Venezuela and beyond," Chavez said.
The Venezuelan leader has led a surge of new leftist leaders in Latin America while crusading against U.S. influence and building close ties to Cuba, Iran and other adversaries of Washington.
He has held on to popularity in Venezuela while using the country's plentiful oil to bankroll social programs such as literacy classes and cash benefits for single mothers.
Many predict the fall in oil prices will soon sour Venezuela's economy and hurt Chavez's support, closing his window of opportunity to remake the constitution.
Supporters of a "no" vote say a Chavez victory would remove the last remaining check on the president's power. Since the opposition boycotted the 2005 congressional elections, the Chavez-dominated National Assembly has packed the Supreme Court with Chavez allies.
Critics also accuse the National Electoral Council of being in Chavez's pocket. Elections officials, who maintain they are independent, said the vote was proceeding normally.
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