News & Politics - Chavez wins Venezuelan presidential elections, will seek to remove term limits

elisheva · 12-05-2006, 05:09 PM

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Chavez named presidential victor
President Hugo Chavez has been declared the winner of Venezuela's presidential election in a ceremony in the capital.

Mr Chavez received nearly 63% of the final vote, 25 points ahead of his main rival, Manuel Rosales.

Addressing supporters in Caracas, he said there would be complete freedom of expression and political participation during his next six-year term.

He praised his opponents for accepting defeat, and said his win showed support for a radical turn towards socialism.

"Those who voted for me didn't vote for me. They voted for the socialist plan, to build a profoundly different Venezuela," Mr Chavez said.

"The path of this republic is a revolution, a democratic revolution, a social revolution, a political revolution, an economic revolution," he said.

The final results showed Mr Chavez won 7.2 million votes out of about 12 million cast. During his campaign, he said he aimed to poll 10 million votes.

'Ready and willing'

US Ambassador William Brownfield congratulated Venezuelans on a peaceful ballot, and voiced Washington's willingness to seek a less fractious relationship with Mr Chavez.

"The president was re-elected by the decision of the Venezuelan people," Mr Brownfield said in a radio interview on Tuesday.

"We recognise that and we're ready, willing and eager to explore and see if we can make progress on bilateral issues."

While the US is the most voracious consumer of Venezuelan oil, tensions have often precluded dialogue between the two nations.

Mr Chavez accuses Washington of backing a 2002 coup against him and has referred to President George W Bush as "Mr Danger" and "the devil".

President Chavez - who won elections in both 1998 and 2000 - triumphed after a campaign in which he characterised his rival as a lackey of the US.

Mr Chavez has vowed to boost the social programmes that have won him support among millions of impoverished Venezuelans.

He is also expected to reform the Venezuelan constitution to remove limits on how many times he can be re-elected, enabling him to run again in 2012.
Story from BBC NEWS:
BBC NEWS | Americas | Chavez named presidential victor

Published: 2006/12/05 16:44:23 GMT

© BBC MMVI

BBC NEWS | Americas | Chavez named presidential victor

I find Chavez creepily anti-democratic, personally.

Lexis · 12-05-2006, 05:56 PM

I can see the appeal he has - focus on the poor, shaking up healthcare and education. And from what I understand, this is a pretty big shift for the country.

But to me, something is slightly off with him. I remember a British crew went out to film and got chucked in jail fo 14 hours before they were released.

Jacob1983 · 12-05-2006, 06:06 PM

They have elections in Venezuela? This Chavez doesn't deserve to be leader of anything. He is anti-American and anti-democracy. Cindy Sheehan apparently is good friends with the guy. It's sad but true.

ceilirose · 12-05-2006, 06:19 PM

I agree with that - he has a certain appeal but something, somewhere is a little off.

Jacob - where's the back up on that? Also so what if it's true? Our leaders are good friends wtih Saudi leaders and they run a repressive government - it's hardly resembles any sense of a demcracy.

Jacob1983 · 12-05-2006, 06:24 PM

I remember a while back seeing that Cindy Sheehan went down to meet with Chavez at some rally and they were acting like they were buddies. Sheehan was welcomed with a big cheer mainly because she is a Bush hater like Chavez is. I would put Chavez in the same class as Castro, Kim Jong Il, and the Iranian guy. I wouldn't want to be friends or associated with any of those guys but I guess it's "different strokes for different folks".

migamoo · 12-05-2006, 07:30 PM

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Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

They have elections in Venezuela?

I'm sorry, I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic. Can you tell me which?

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This Chavez doesn't deserve to be leader of anything.

He's been elected two times, so apparently some people do think he deserves it.

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He is anti-American and anti-democracy.

He's the president of Venezuela, that doesn't mean he has to like the US. The US has a lot to do with the country and vice versa. We actually get a lot of our oil from him.
Also, to quote Wikipedia :

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After Hurricane Katrina battered the United States’ Gulf Coast in late 2005, the Chávez administration was the first foreign government to offer aid to the devastated regions. The Bush administration opted to refuse this aid. Later during the winter of 2005, various officials in the Northeastern United States signed an agreement with Venezuela to provide discounted heating oil to low income families.

That doesn't really sound all that anti-American to me. Really, he just doesn't like the current administration, and I can't say that I blame him. And I wouldn't say he's against democracy, but he does have a more socialistic view to it.

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Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

I would put Chavez in the same class as Castro, Kim Jong Il, and the Iranian guy.

First, the "Iranian guy" is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I'd suggest if you're going to mention someone in a debate, you should at least know their name. And if you don't, it only takes a few seconds to look it up. Second, all Chávez is doing is helping his country. He's not doing anything remotely terroristic or from what I can gather, going to. Nor is he a Communist dictator like Castro is. Yes, he has anti-Bush sentiments, but a lot of people do.

Jacob1983 · 12-05-2006, 07:40 PM

I would think that Chavez would make it a law in his country of Venezuela to ban elections. He comes off more as a dictator than as a socialist. I figured that Venezuela did have elections but I'm sure a lot of Venezuelans are probably heavily pressure or even or forcibly pressured to vote for Chavez out of fear that he may kill them or something. I did know that we do get some oil from his country. I still think America is stubborn with the whole idea of not drilling for oil in Alaska and some parts of Canada. It seems if America could do that then maybe oil wouldn't be such a big deal and problem.

Didn't Chavez go off on an anti-America and anti-Bush rant at some thing at the UN this year? I do not believe that Chavez likes America. As I posted earlier, I would put him in the same class as Castro, Kim Jong Il, and the windbreaker wearing guy from Iran.

migamoo · 12-05-2006, 07:51 PM

Do you even know anything about Chávez, other than he's the president of Venezuela? Because if you did, you'd know he's not a dictator.

Does this come off as dictatorship to you?

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Chávez was sworn in as president on February 2, 1999. Among his first acts was the launching of Plan Bolivar 2000, which included road building, housing construction, and mass vaccination.[26] Chávez also halted planned privatizations of, among others, the national social security system, aluminum industry holdings, and the oil sector.[27] Chávez also overhauled the formerly lax tax collection and auditing system — especially regarding major corporations and landholders — by increasing its fairness and efficiency.

Dictator is defined as: a person exercising absolute power, esp. a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control in a government without hereditary succession. Most of the time a dictator doesn't take the time to work out fairness in taxes, or help to improve the health of his people, or even help to improve the state of his country. Most of the time a dictator does something that's only good for him.

ceilirose · 12-05-2006, 08:03 PM

I think Bush tried to overthow Chavez in a coup a few years back. Stupid move on Bush's part interfering in another country's business, no? No wonder why there's animosity.

chicah · 12-05-2006, 11:55 PM

I think the reason most Americans don't like Chavez is that most people in this world strongly dislikes USA and Bush, but very few dare to speak of it in public. He's one of those few.

Something great is happening in the world today. The entire Latin-America is turning red. They want to be an independent country and not just puppies for the USA. They all vote for socialism, for the future. USA is (much thanks to Bush) losing their grip on the world.

TokyoNiGHTS · 12-06-2006, 03:55 AM

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Originally Posted by chicah (View Post)

I think the reason most Americans don't like Chavez is that most people in this world strongly dislikes USA and Bush, but very few dare to speak of it in public. He's one of those few.

I wouldn't say most people in the world dislike America. They dislike what we've become in the last several years but they don't dislike us. There have been polls done where it comes out that alot of people don't like our president at all, but they like the people in the US. That's how I think it is around the world.

Lexis · 12-06-2006, 04:51 AM

TokyoNiGHTS, I agree. I love America so much - its a beautiful country with such great people - but I really dislike the current administration. Most people in the UK feel that way I think - we probably prefer you to our European neighbours!

**sunnykerr** · 12-06-2006, 07:23 AM

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Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

I would think that Chavez would make it a law in his country of Venezuela to ban elections. He comes off more as a dictator than as a socialist. I figured that Venezuela did have elections but I'm sure a lot of Venezuelans are probably heavily pressure or even or forcibly pressured to vote for Chavez out of fear that he may kill them or something. I did know that we do get some oil from his country.

Chavez, no matter how wacky or crazy he is, would be out of power in a nanosecond if he did that. Why, do you ask? Because the first thing he did when he won his first presidential election was to change the country's constitution to allow everyone to vote, regardless of whether or not they owned land, which was how the voting went before. Because of him, a lot of people are now able to vote who weren't allowed to vote before.

Not to mention that he democratized the constitution in lots of different other ways, with regards to civil and criminal rights for one. And he made it really cheap for anyone who so desired to get their very own copy of the constitution.

Not to mention that he has revolutionized Venezuelan economy, making it more national and less dependent on foreign aid.

I'm not saying the man doesn't come off as a borderline crazy person in lots of different ways, but he's a socialist, not a fascist. There's a huge difference there.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

I still think America is stubborn with the whole idea of not drilling for oil in Alaska and some parts of Canada. It seems if America could do that then maybe oil wouldn't be such a big deal and problem.

I personally believe drilling in Alaska is a ridiculous idea, considering how small the benefits would be compared to the irreparrable damages done to the environment. But that's just my opinion.

However, I would be besides myself with pretty freaking wrathful indignation if the United States were somehow allowed to drill on my native soil just because it wants to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

Didn't Chavez go off on an anti-America and anti-Bush rant at some thing at the UN this year? I do not believe that Chavez likes America. As I posted earlier, I would put him in the same class as Castro, Kim Jong Il, and the windbreaker wearing guy from Iran.

He did go on an anti-Bush rant. Not an anti-America rant, there's a difference. The two don't actually go together. People who hate America don't care who's at the helm.

And, again, the difference between Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (aka windbreaker-wearing guy from Iran) is that Chavez's government is not based on a religious group. The fact that it's called the Islamic Republic of Iran versus Venezuela's unicameral parliamentary system tells us that.

The difference between Kim Jong Il and Chavez is the difference between a fascist leader and a democratic one.

The difference between Castro and Chavez is that Castro doesn't allow for the nomination of other candidates at elections, nor does he allow the existence of politcal parties outside of his Communist Party. In this recent election, Chavez received somewhere aroun 60% of the vote, not a 100% percent, which already tells you that he had opposition and clearly people weren't forced to vote for him. Aside from Manuel Rosales, Chavez's primary opponent in the this election, the ballot included 14 other presidential candidates.

migamoo · 12-06-2006, 09:51 AM

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Originally Posted by Jacob1983 (View Post)

I did know that we do get some oil from his country. I still think America is stubborn with the whole idea of not drilling for oil in Alaska and some parts of Canada. It seems if America could do that then maybe oil wouldn't be such a big deal and problem.

I forgot to reply to this yesterday.

First, there are more disadvantages to drilling in Alaska than there are advantages. But this is to the environment, so you probably don't care, do you? And second, drilling in Canada? That's a totally different country and they would have to allow us to do so. You can't just go into a country and demand something, even though our current administration has done this in other areas.

Jacob1983 · 12-06-2006, 11:09 AM

This might suprise you but liberal funny Jon Stewart laid the smack down on Chavez on his yesterday. So I'm not the only one that thinks this Chavez guy is bad news.
Chavez comes off as a guy who has dictator like agenda in my opinion. Chavez wanting to remove term limits is clear proof that the guy is more of a dictator than a president.


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