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Allies of Venezuela's Chavez Win Big, but Opposition Secures Key Posts
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's allies won a hefty majority of state governorships in Sunday's elections, but the opposition secured important victories by winning the mayor's seat in greater Caracas and two economically vital states. "Today, the people of Venezuela have spoken," Chavez said early Monday. "Today's victory is Venezuela's. The democratic path has been ratified." Alberto Muller Rojas, vice president of Chavez's United Socialist Party, characterized the day's vote as a triumph for the government. "We have won in the majority of cases with a substantial difference," Muller Rojas said at a news conference after the election. But the National Electoral Council said it was still too close to call the winner in the border state of Tachira and in the northern industrial state of Carabobo. It was also unclear who had won in big cities like Maracaibo or Valencia. The president's allies won two states, Yaracuy and Anzoategui, after the government disqualified two promising opposition candidates vying for governorships in those states. The election was seen as a test of Chavez's dominance in the oil-rich nation, which has been tested in recent months as rising crime, high inflation and food shortages have shaken faith in the man known to his followers as El Comandante. The president had vigorously campaigned for his candidates, knowing a big win would give him the political leverage to reform the constitution and stay in office past 2013, when his six-year term ends. Posted by: Fred 2008-11-25 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=255918 |