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Caribbean-Latin America
Chavez promised clean elections
2005-11-30
Cleaning up the ballot by getting rid of all those messy opposition parties.

Insisting that congressional elections will be conducted fairly, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is accusing the opposition of trying to derail the vote by pulling out just days before it's to take place. Two opposition parties withdrew Tuesday from the elections, saying conditions were biased toward allies of the leftist Chavez. A third party threatened to boycott unless the vote scheduled for Sunday is postponed to ensure fairness.

The Venezuelan leader, who is a paranoid lunatic vocal critic of President Bush, called the move a last-ditch political stunt pulled by an enfeebled opposition that analysts have predicted would be soundly defeated at the polls. "What fraud? They should accept the truth that they have no public," he said. "It's an attempt at political sabotage."
Jimmy Carter agrees. So that settles it.

The defections boost Chavez's chances of winning the two-thirds congressional majority he needs to establish Marxist rule push through constitutional reforms. One of those reforms is an amendment that would strike down a limit on presidents to two six-year terms, a period that would expire for Chavez in 2012 if he is re-elected next year.

Currently, pro-Chavez lawmakers hold 52 percent of the 165-seat National Assembly. The defectors - major opposition party Democratic Action and the smaller Project Venezuela - together hold 30 seats. The Social Christian Party, or Copei, which has threatened to boycott, holds six.

Democratic Action and Copei long dominated national politics before Chavez's meteoric rise to power in 1998 elections. The centrist parties differ little in ideology and are united in their fierce opposition to Chavez, who says he is leading a socialist revolution to create many more help the poor. This election could mark the first time since Venezuela's last dictatorship fell in 1958 that neither party fields a candidate. Chavez said the two parties during their half-century of domination "did whatever they wanted, plundered the country and handed it over to imperialism."

The parties' influence has been flagging, and recent polls show Chavez has a nearly 70 percent public approval ratings.
There was a book out, called The perfect Latin American Idiot.
Posted by:Jackal

#1  "Chavez promised clean elections"

Uh-huh.

And I promised to lose 50 pounds overnight.

Guess which one of us is more likely to deliver. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2005-11-30 21:39  

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