Same as ours, Americans -- if you believe the corporate media spin.
"Chavez fights for control in election; He tells backers to ‘attack’ using the ballot box" by Ian James, Associated Press | September 27, 2010
CARACAS — Opponents of President Hugo Chavez tried to break his longstanding monopoly on power yesterday in congressional elections that were also seen as a referendum on Chavez ahead of the next presidential election in 2012.
Ours is on Obama.
See: Senate could split 50-50 between Democrats, Republicans: study
Then they are definitely losing the House big in a fair election.
The firebrand leader urged his supporters to “attack’’ through the ballot box. Voters formed long lines at polling stations after being awakened before dawn by fireworks and recorded bugles blaring reveille from loudspeakers.
Not in AmeriKa.
After casting his ballot, Chavez said turnout could be as high as 70 percent. “The people are speaking,’’ Chavez said, calling it proof the country has a healthy democracy.
AmeriKa doesn't even have that anymore.
Opposition parties were trying to end Chavez’s domination of the National Assembly for the first time in his nearly 12 years in the presidency.
Polls suggest Chavez remains the most popular politician in Venezuela, yet surveys have shown a decline in his popularity in the past two years as disenchantment has grown over problems including rampant violent crime, poorly administered public services, and inflation hovering at 30 percent.
The opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2005, stands to dramatically increase its representation beyond the 11 or so lawmakers who defected from Chavez’s camp in the current National Assembly. If Chavez’s socialist-oriented government fails to keep at least a two-thirds majority of the 165 seats, opponents would have more clout in trying to check his sweeping powers....
And they will call it victory!
Chavez has fashioned himself as a revolutionary-turned-president carrying on the legacy of his mentor, Fidel Castro, with a nationalist vision and a deep-seated antagonism toward the US government.
How would YOU FEEL if someone tried to REMOVE YOU in a COUP?
He has largely funded his government with Venezuela’s ample oil wealth, touting social programs targeted to his support base.
Unlike, say, our ally the Saudis who keep the loot for themselves or the endless levels of U.S. government that give to their friends and campaign contributors instead.
Chavez portrayed the vote as a choice between his “Bolivarian Revolution’’ and opposition politicians he accuses of serving the interests of the wealthy and his adversaries in the US government.
If they did serve us the U.S. would have no problem with Venezuela.
“We’re with this man because this man is the one who has really done things for this country,’’ said Carmen Elena Flores de Cordova, 58, a lawyer who dressed in signature Chavez red to vote. She pointed to government projects in the neighborhood as proof of progress: a new low-income apartment building and cable cars running up into a hillside slum.
Both political camps had witnesses at polling stations keeping an eye on the balloting and had invited foreign officials to do the same. Soldiers stood guard during the balloting, joined by civilians belonging to the Bolivarian Militia created by Chavez.
I'm so sick of the corporate media slant.
Chavez supporters wearing red T-shirts handed out fliers backing progovernment candidates to voters lined up at a polling station in Caracas’s Petare slum, despite rules barring such activities.
We call them newspapers here in AmeriKa.
Campaign trucks of Chavez’s socialist party also cruised past blaring Venezuelan folk music while a man using a loudspeaker called for people to “heed the call of the fatherland’’ and vote.
You know what that is meant to imply, right (as opposed to protecting the homeland).
Some in line complained about such tactics, saying electoral officials were being too tolerant.
Opposition candidate Yvan Olivares complained he was initially blocked from voting by a band of raucous Chavez supporters on motorcycles who he said fired shots into the air. He said he was eventually able to cast his ballot after reporting the incident to elections officials. Tibisay Lucena, president of the National Electoral Council, called for those on motorcycles not to pass by voting centers.
At least 16 people were detained during the voting for violations such as tearing up their voting slips, and officials also halted groups riding motorcycles in several cities, General Henry Rangel Silva said.
Chavez’s party mounted an aggressive campaign to get supporters among Venezuela’s 17 million registered voters to the polls.
Of course, if you do that in Amerika it is called a get-out-the-vote drive. We are told how important it is even though the politicians never listen to us and things keep getting worse.
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And like I said, victory.
"Chavez loses some ground" by Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press | September 28, 2010
Kind of easy when there are TWO NAMES on the BALLOT this time!
CARACAS — President Hugo Chavez’s allies held onto control of Venezuela’s congress in election results released yesterday, but his opponents made major gains that trimmed the firebrand leader’s power — an achievement that sent him a warning with two years to go before the next presidential vote.
Do you think Obama will get the message here?
Both sides claimed the results were a victory, but Chavez lost the two-thirds majority that has allowed his allies to ignore the opposition while giving the president decree powers, rewriting fundamental laws, and appointing key officials such as Supreme Court justices.
With the vast majority of votes from Sunday’s election counted, Chavez’s socialist party won at least 96 of the 165 seats in the National Assembly, while the opposition coalition won at least 61 seats, National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena said. Chavez’s party had held an overwhelming majority in the outgoing congress because the opposition boycotted the past election.
The remaining eight seats Sunday went either to a small splinter party or had not yet been determined, she said.
A day after the vote, electoral officials still had not released actual vote counts.
Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, leader of the opposition coalition, said its own counts showed anti-Chavez candidates garnered a majority of the popular vote despite getting fewer than half the seats up for election....
I'm not believing that!
A crowd of government supporters who had gathered outside the presidential palace showed mixed emotions when Lucena announced the results. Some showed disappointment by holding their heads in their hands while others thrust their fists in the air, declaring a triumph.
Chavez backers drove through downtown Caracas celebrating, waving party flags and honking horns. Powerful fireworks exploded above the streets, echoing throughout much of the capital.
Opposition leaders celebrated at the coalition’s headquarters in Caracas, where they hugged and kissed each other amid smiling supporters.
The opposition’s goal was to win a majority of the assembly’s seats. Even though they fell short, they will be now able to put some constraints on Chavez’s lawmaking power, and will also be empowered to demand checks on government spending.
Then why didn't they stay in there last time?
The opposition, which boycotted the last legislative elections in 2005, dramatically increased its representation beyond the dozen or so lawmakers who defected from Chavez’s camp in the current National Assembly....
Gregory Wilpert, author of the book “Changing Venezuela By Taking Power,’’ noting that Chavez opponents attempted — and failed — to oust Chavez through a 2002 coup: “For the opposition it’s a mixed bag, but it’s a step forward in the sense that they’ve committed themselves to playing the democratic game.’’
Then they are GOING TO LOSE!
In the western state of Zulia, where the opposition won 12 of the 15 posts up for grabs, Governor Pablo Perez attributed the opposition’s gains to the coalition’s decision to field a single candidate for each of the 165 seats being contested.
“We showed Venezuela that we can advance if we’re united,’’ Perez said.
Miguel Tinker Salas, a professor at Pomona College in Claremont, California, said the outcome could prompt Chavez to concentrate on resolving pressing domestic problems, which include rampant violent crime, a lingering economic recession and Latin America’s highest rate of inflation.
Still, the opposition lacks a strong presence in many of the rural states where Chavez remains most popular, making it more difficult for government foes to win strong backing for a presidential candidate within two years, Tinker Salas said.
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Update: Chavez wants a break from U.S. meddling. Can you blame him?
Nope.
