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Venezuela's Chavez may end presidential term limits
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday he may seek to lift constitutionally mandated presidential term limits if opposition parties boycott the upcoming December presidential elections. "I might sign a decree calling for a popular referendum -- do you agree that Chavez should run for a third term in 2013?" Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. "It's not a firm decision, it's something I'm thinking about."
And has been for quite a while.
Chavez was first elected in 1998 and again in 2000 after he led a move to rewrite the country's constitution. He is up for re-election in December, and has accused the opposition and the U.S. government of seeking to disrupt the poll.

Opposition parties boycotted parliamentary elections last December on allegations of electoral authority bias, allowing Chavez's allies to win all the legislature's seats. "If the opposition tries to pull the same stunt of everyone pulling out (of the vote) ... that might strengthen this idea," Chavez said.

Venezuela's fractured opposition parties still have not united behind a possible candidate to face Chavez in December. Many opposition leaders advocated abstention after Chavez won an overwhelming victory in a recall referendum on his rule in 2004. Chavez's critics alleged he won the vote through fraud, an accusation not backed by international election monitors.
After Jimmuah sold them out.
Chavez's critics accuse him of concentrating power and seeking to remain in office indefinitely. The constitutional changes he promoted in 1999 eliminated Venezuela's traditional ban on immediate reelection, and increased the presidential term from five to six years.

Chavez last year opposed a move by one of his allies to end term limits, insisting he did not have any intention of remaining in the presidency permanently. He said the current debate was meant to teach the opposition "a lesson about true politics, so they'll stop being so ridiculous."
And who would know more about being ridiculous in Venezuela?

Posted by: Steve White 2006-02-20
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=143172