Chavez Congratulates Socialists on Election Victory

By Rose Ana Berbeo Prensa Latina eptember 27, 2010

http://www.prensa-latina.cu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=223830&Itemid=1

Caracas

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez congratulated the
socialists and their allies today on their electoral
victory Sunday, after they won at least 95 of the
National Assembly's 165 seats.

"Bolivarian and democratic socialism. We must continue
strengthening the revolution! A new victory for the
people. I congratulate you all," Chávez wrote in his
Twitter account, @[log in to unmask]

The president said it was a solid victory for
continuing to deepen the process of change begun in
1999.

According to the first bulletin issued by the National
Electoral Council, the United Socialist Party of
Venezuela (PSUV) won 95 seats (including an allied
indigenous seat), while the opposition coalition Mesa
de la Unidad Democrática won 60.

The Patria para Todos (Homeland for All) Party won 2
seats, indigenous groups won 2 and 6 were still
undecided.

More than 66 percent of the 17,575,975 registered
voters cast their ballots, according to National
Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena.

Even though the PSUV did not win a two-thirds majority
in the National Assembly (110 of 165 seats), its status
as the principal political power the country was
reaffirmed, said PSUV vice president Aristóbulo
Istúriz.

Speaking from a stage near Miraflores Palace, Isturiz
called on party members to strengthen their unity.

===

Venezuela: This was about the taking part

The Venezuela election was not a major blow to Hugo
Chavez. It shows politics is working properly again

Mark Weisbrot - guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 September
2010 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/27/venezuela-election-opposition-politics

Today's election for 165 representatives in Venezuela's
national assembly is significant but unlikely to bring
about major change, despite the opposition having done
better than expected. On the latest count the
pro-government United Socialist party has 94 seats,
with 60 for the opposition Democratic Unity, five for
other parties and the rest undecided. The opposition
claims it won a majority of the popular vote, but
apparently it was very close between the two main
parties.

As expected, most of the international press and its
sources hailed the results as a "major blow" to Hugo
Chavez, paving the way for his possible removal in the
presidential election in 2012. But this is exaggerated.

The vote was widely seen as a referendum on Chavez, and
it would be an anomaly in electoral politics if the
government did not lose support after a recession last
year that continued into the first quarter of this
year. Chavez's popularity has always reflected the
economy, reaching a low during the recession of 2002-03
– regardless of the fact that it was caused by an
opposition oil strike. His approval rating has fallen
from 60% in early 2009 to 46% last month.

For comparison President Obama's approval rating has
fallen from 68% last April to 45% this month, and his
party is expected to take big losses in the
congressional elections. This is despite him having
clearly inherited economic problems from his
predecessor.

It is not clear why anyone would expect Venezuela to be
exempt from the workings of electoral politics. The
opposition has most of the wealth of the country – and
most of its media. They have no problem getting their
message out. Obama also faces a strong rightwing media,
with Fox News now one of the most popular sources for
coverage of the autumn elections, but there is much
less of an opposition media in the US.

Much has been made of the opposition getting more than
a third of the national assembly, thus being able to
block legislation that would "deepen the revolution".
Again, the importance of this is greatly exaggerated.

In reality it is unlikely to make much difference. The
pace at which it adopts reforms has been limited more
by administrative capacity than by politics. The
Financial Times recently added up the value of
industries nationalised by the Chavez government.
Outside oil, it came to less than 8% of GDP over the
last five years. Venezuela still has a long way to go
before the state has as much a role in the economy as
it does in, for instance, France.

On the positive side, the most interesting result of
this election is that the opposition participated, has
accepted the results, and now has a bloc of
representatives that can participate in a parliamentary
democracy.

This could be an advance for Venezuelan democracy,
which has been undermined by an anti-democratic
opposition for more than a decade. As opposition leader
Teodoro Petkoff has noted, the opposition pursued a
strategy of "military takeover" for the first four
years, which included a military coup and a devastating
oil strike that crippled the economy. In 2004 the
opposition tried to remove Chavez through a referendum;
they failed, and then promptly refused to recognise the
result – despite its certification by international
observers such as the Carter Center and the
Organisation of American States.

They then boycotted the last election in 2005, hoping
to portray the government as a "dictatorship" and
leaving them without representation. This newly elected
bloc could potentially draw the opposition into real
political participation. If that happens, it would be a
significant advance for a country that has been too
polarised for too long.

_____________________________________________

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