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Chavez's party vows to hasten social change
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-06 09:49
Supporters of President Hugo Chavez vowed Monday to accelerate Venezuela's
shift to a "new socialism" after claiming victory in elections that were
expected to give pro-Chavez politicians all 167 seats in the National Assembly.
Several of Venezuela's major opposition parties boycotted the vote on Sunday,
which had an estimated turnout of 25 percent and is likely to further polarize
Venezuelan society. The country has been deeply divided by the leftist leader's
rhetoric, his alliance with the Cuban leader Fidel Castro and his efforts to
seize unproductive farms for poor farmers, start state-funded cooperatives and
expand social programs for the poor.
"Silence united Venezuelans," said Gerardo Blyde of Justice First, one of
several leading opposition parties that pulled out days before the vote,
complaining the voting system could not be trusted.
Official results were still pending Monday, but internal tallies showed
Chavez's party won 114 seats and the remainder went to aligned parties, said
Willian Lara, a leader of Chavez's Fifth Republic Movement party.
A mural of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez
is seen in an apartment building belonging to a nonprofit housing
association called 'Comite de los Sin Techos' in Caracas, Venezuela,
Monday, Dec. 5, 2005, one day after congressional elections.
[AP] | That would give the party the needed two-thirds majority to allow it to amend
the constitution. Some lawmakers have said they hope to consider a revision to
extend term limits for all offices, including the president.
Current term limits would bar Chavez from running again in 2012 if he is
re-elected next year.
Pedro Lander, a newly elected congressman, said Monday the new National
Assembly will aim to "deepen the revolutionary process more and more."
Sunday's election left anti-Chavez parties, some of which long dominated
Venezuelan politics, without representation in the run-up to presidential
elections in December 2006.
Chavez has accused the opposition of plotting the boycott with the help of
the United States as part of a larger plot to "destabilize" the country. Both
Washington and the opposition have denied the accusations.
The turnout 錕斤拷 lower than in 1998 and 2000 congressional votes 錕斤拷 came despite
a government effort to get Venezuelans to the polls.
"We're not satisfied with the results of the elections," Foreign Minister Ali
Rodriguez said Monday.
The results pointed to a loss for both camps, said Steve Ellner, a professor
of political science at Venezuela's University of the East.
But he said the opposition's decision to withdraw has left it open to
suspicions about its motives at a time when it was faring poorly in public
opinion polls.
"It doesn't look good," he said. "I would characterize this as an error."
Chavez' officials also blamed an explosion on a major oil pipeline Saturday
on government opponents and said the U.S. meddled in the elections through the
nonprofit group Sumate, which receives money from the Washington-based National
Endowment for Democracy, a private group funded by Congress.
Maria Corina Machado, who leads Sumate and who declared the vote
"illegitimate," goes on trial Tuesday along with three other Sumate members on
charges they conspired to destroy the republican system. The criminal
allegations stem from a $31,000 contribution from the National Endowment for
Democracy.
The group's leaders say they committed no crime and the funds were used for
pro-democracy courses.
The Organization of American States and European Union together had 220
observers on hand.
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