Democracy

all the facts and news in Venezuela on democracy and how it influences all decisions made by Hugo Chavez as president implications for democracy of the Venezuelan people

Oct
4
2010
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Opposition makes important strides in Venezuelan parliamentary elections

September 27

In what is being cast as a referendum on President Hugo Chávez’s policies, Venezuela’s opposition coalition earned at least 61 of 165 National Assembly seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, denying the President the 2/3 majority needed to pass laws at will. Preliminary results also indicate that the MUD (Mesa de la Unidad Democrática) coalition won 52% of the popular vote.

“A new cycle begins today,” said Carlos Ocariz, the opposition mayor of Petare, a district that was once a Chávez stronghold. “Chávez’s rollercoaster is going down.”

Sunday’s results provide the opposition with significant momentum going into the 2012 presidential elections. President Chávez has seen his approval rating plummet to a low of 36 percent.  His failed policies, including his unrelenting attacks on private property, have resulted in Venezuela’s woes – 30% inflation rate, recession, unemployment, electricity blackouts, and food shortages.

“This will change the political dynamics of Venezuela,” said Inter-American Dialogue President Michael Shifter. “It’s a respectable result which the opposition can build on for the 2012 presidential race. It shows they are back in the game and Chávez is vulnerable.”

 
Oct
1
2010
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New Venezuelan congress now democratic, reports archbishop

This article was originally posted by CNA

Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro said this week that the 65 congressional seats gained by a minority party in last Sunday’s elections means that the Venezuelan Congress is no longer “just one color,” but is now democratic.

Speaking to Vatican Radio, the archbishop said Venezuelans are full of “joy and satisfaction because once again Venezuela has been an example of democratic civility by getting out to vote.”

He praised Venezuelans for the cordial and optimistic atmosphere surrounding the elections. “There were no confrontations, thanks be to God.  The system worked,” he said.

However, the archbishop criticized the long delay in releasing the results at 2 a.m. on Monday morning, despite the “supposedly automated system that should have given us the results in the matter of minutes.”

“In any case,” he continued, “right now the big loser is the president, who tried hard to sell his candidates, and although they won 99 congressional seats, the big loser was Chavez because he was hoping to gain an absolute majority and he didn’t.”

“As of now the Venezuelan Congress is no longer just one color, it is no longer fearful … It is a truly democratic congress in which laws are going to be studied and worked in to the benefit of all Venezuelans and not just one political party.”

 
Sep
30
2010
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Former adviser says that Chávez can be defeated in 2012

Heinz Dieterich, credits: El UniversalThis article was originally posted by El Universal

Although the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) did not reach the 110 seats it needed to have a supermajority at the Venezuelan National Assembly and only won 100,000 votes more than the opposition, government leaders said that they won the legislative elections held last Sunday.

However, some people do not have a positive perception of the results. On the contrary, they warn that President Hugo Chávez can be defeated in 2012, when he is expected to seek a third consecutive presidential term.

One of the analysts who have warned against a bleak outlook for Venezuela’s ruling party is Heinz, a German sociologist and a political analyst residing in Mexico. Dieterich said in an article entitled “Venezuela must change the model or it will collapse like the Cuban model,” that President Chávez has eight months to change the course.

In his article, Dieterich claimed that the Venezuelan Head of State has been unable to “dismantle the opposition electoral group, despite having conditions to do so, such as skyrocketing oil prices, an absolute Executive and legislative power, no opponents at the National Assembly and a fragmented opposition lacking a national project and prominent leaders.”

Dieterich advised Chávez to follow the steps of Cuban President Raúl Castro who is abandoning the 20th century socialism. “Otherwise, the system will collapse,” he warned.