Tonight at 9:35 pm in Caracas, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) announced that the amendment lifting the two-term limit for elected officials, won, by a popular vote of 54.36% to 45.63%. With the CNE’s first official announcement by director Tibisay Lucena, 94% of the votes had been counted from the 67.05% of eligible voters who turned out at the polls.
The referendum is a major victory for the revolutionary forces who back President Hugo Chávez, as it gives him the right to run for president for a third term in 2012. It also lifts the two-term restriction for all levels, from municipal to national offices.
By today’s vote, articles 160, 162, 174, 192 and 230 of the Bolivarian Constitution were amended to allow the voters to approve of their representatives for unlimited times.
The rightwing opposition to the revolutionary process, financed by the U.S. government, will undoubtedly protest the outcome, but the people have spoken.
