Hugo’s power grab: ¿Si o No?; Update: Still waiting, too close to call…10:47pm Eastern… “photo finish;” Update: NO!
Update 7:00am Eastern 12/3. Hugo loses.
Voters in this country narrowly defeated a proposed overhaul to the constitution in a contentious referendum over granting President Hugo Chávez sweeping new powers, the Election Commission announced early Monday.
It was the first major electoral defeat in the nine years of his presidency. Voters rejected the 69 proposed amendments 51 to 49 percent.
The political opposition erupted into celebration, shooting fireworks into the air and honking car horns, when electoral officials announced the results at 1:20 a.m. The nation had remained on edge since polls closed Sunday afternoon and the wait for results began.
The outcome is a stunning development in a country where Mr. Chávez and his supporters control nearly all of the levers of power. Almost immediately after the results were broadcast on state television, Mr. Chávez conceded defeat, describing the results as a “photo finish.”
“I congratulate my adversaries for this victory,” he said. “For now, we could not do it.”
Opposition leaders were ecstatic. “Tonight, Venezuela has won,” said Manuel Rosales, governor of Zulia State and the opposition’s candidate in presidential elections last year.
Update 10:35pm Eastern. Too close to call.
It’s going to be a “photo finish”…
Hugo Chavez sought to cement his power and end presidential term limits in a vote Sunday that the government said was too close to call.
One opposition leader likened the vote on constitutional changes to a photo finish. Another told The Associated Press that initial results showed the referendum was headed for defeat.
But caravans of Chavez’s supporters took to the streets after most polls closed honking horns and blaring celebratory music in anticipation of victory. The opposition said it was closely monitoring the returns.
“The result of the referendum is close,” Vice President Jorge Rodriguez said from Chavez’s campaign headquarters. “We will respect the result, whatever it is — even if it’s by one single vote … We call on the other side to do the same.”
He said some polling stations were still open to allow voting Sunday night, hours after the official close, and the electoral council was still awaiting results from 20 percent of them.
Opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez, mayor of the Caracas district of Chacao, claimed that results seen by election monitors “indicate the ‘no’ vote is going to win.” Julio Borges, a former lawmaker and presidential contender, said “the photo is very tight.”
Report from Caracas Chronicles: “Quico says: Multiple sources inside CNE now confirm it. Chávez’s constitutional reform proposal has been defeated at the polls. An official announcement is imminent.”
Update: Delays, delays, delays.
Daniel at Venezuela News and Views:
21:59
Still nothing official. But my SMS box is full of junk. Meanwhile the NO headquarters are loudly implying their victory. It does seem that the NO won but the CNE and the government are figuring out how to present it. One thing is certain: if the SI had won convincingly, AND honestly, we would already know. One thing we can thus advance in all certitude: if the SI won, it is by the narrowest of margins.
Gateway Pundit has a good round-up.
***
Today’s the day. Will Hugo Chavez’s power grab succeed? The Venezuelan blogosphere is lit up. Caracas Chronicles has the latest poll numbers before voting began:
The blogger at The End of Venezuela As We Know It has voted and posts a purple finger photo.
Daniel at Venezuela News and Views reports:
Back from voting. It was a breeze. But it was also a mystery: my table had no line whatsoever but all the other tables had at least a couple of dozen people waiting and more outside as people were allowed in only as their voting table cleared up some. I was allowed to walk right in.
I did drive around some, visiting about a dozen voting centers, including two in very chavista areas. No lines anywhere. No way to judge abstention so far. My voting book had only two signatures when I voted, I was the third one to sign. This time it had only 10 names per page (I think). I sort of hung around trying to glance at other pages and none had more than 2 to 4 lines filled up. Thus there are plenty of people to vote as obviously more than half the people have not moved there. And I vote in one of the most anti Chavez district of San Felipe.
The latest from the wires:
President Hugo Chavez would take on expanded powers and no longer face term limits under sweeping constitutional changes being considered by Venezuelans Sunday in a contentious vote that has raised tensions in South America’s top oil exporter.
An emboldened opposition and recent violent clashes involving protesters point to a potentially volatile dispute if the vote is close, as some pollsters predict.
Lines snaked outside polling stations as voting began. Voters were awakened in Caracas by fireworks exploding in the pre-dawn sky and reveille blaring from speakers mounted on cruising trucks.
“This is transcendental day for Venezuela,” voter Raul Perez said, without revealing whether he was voting “yes” or “no.”
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- Plains Feeder - Vota NO
- Will Chavez Succeed in Power Grab? : The American Pundit
- JammieWearingFool
- This ain’t Hell, but you can see it from here » …with bated breath (Updated 2x)
- Right Voices » Blog Archive » Aljazeera & Reuters Call Election For Chavez…No Confirmation From A Credible News Source Is Available
- Blue Star Chronicles
- Chavez Big Loser -Assorted Babble by Suzie
- A NEWT ONE
- Right Wing News
- The Queen of All Evil
- Venezuela: Voters Say NO to Hugo Chavez and Indefinite Re-Election …Socialism | Scared Monkeys
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- Citizens Of Venezuela Hand Sean Penn And Hugo Chavez Huge Defeat
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Categories: Hugo Chavez
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I pray for no but I fear si.
I’m not holding my breath. Dictators have a way of getting the election results they want, even if they aren’t the election results that were actually decided by voters.
what doc said…
I think it is cute that so many people think that in the long run it will matter.
this little man is one of the biggest examples of SMS (short man’s syndrome) around outside of AckmanIaintgotadad. he is going to do whatever it takes to hold onto his little world of power to prove to the world and Bush that he is loved and he is right and everyone else is wrong. If this were any more transparent, you could put it over your left-overs hold it upside down, shake it to prove it’s seal and stick it in your fridge for later.
The other cute thing will be how many Liberals that will come out in support of this election, calling it legitimate and how well run it was, no evidence of voter fraud etc., yet are the first ones to scream it at the very thought of defeat even before an election here.
Transparent like a sliding-glass door.
Look for something like,
“The trucks carrying the ballots were hijacked, and the contents burned, but government investigations determined, based on election worker interviews, that the majority of patriotic voters, had gloriously cast their ballots for ‘Si.’ Therefore, the resolutions have passed, and George Bush is knocked out! Viva la Revolution! Viva Venezuela! Viva El Supremo, Hugo Chavez..el Presidente por Vida!!”
Or something like that…
Some others:
Adolf Hitler
Il Duce
Mao
Stalin
Po Pot
Marcos
Mahmoudi (already mentioned)
Arafat
Daniel Ortiz
I believe all these men logged in under 5′6″. Who’d I leave out?
Will Hugo win? Depends. Is Jimmy Carter there?
Listed below is the media coverage coming from Venezoolo:
.
Right_on you left out Napoleon. But boys let’s not forget that Hugo does what he does because he is a dirty rotten commie pinko scum bag not because he is short.
Gee, I wonder if they have exit polls??
Right On, you left out Napoleon.
He’ll do what all the liberals do here if they they don’t get their way…cheat, lie, stuff ballots, have dead people vote, cry out disenfranchisement, invent discrimination at the polls, etc.
He’ll stomp his feel like a 4-year old having a tantrum in the middle of Toys ‘r’ Us until he gets what he wants.
Sound familiar?
I agree with the above sentiment, with the exception of “pinko.” Pinko describes a moron who only leans toward communist ideals…Hugo is full-blown RED.
I think Venezuela uses the Washington State Gregoire-Gore method of tabulating election returns. Chavez is allowed to discover new votes until he has sufficiency to win. All legal and sanctioned by the courts. Isn’t the democratic process wonderful.
Pray for the people of Venezuela.
and pray for the people of the United States of America
And please, let us not forget the Russians, who will certainly give to Putin the vast majority he needs for a rebirth of Stalinism. This is the dark, ugly side of “Democracy” that Bush&Co refuse to acknowledge. It is also a full-blown smack in the fact of what is to come in this country. Behold the future (here is my bet):
2012 in this country will not be an election year, though there might be a “referendum” on giving the Democrat party total power because of the National Emergency –there is always a national emergency under socialism.
Following from Richard Poe, we are now faced with revolutionary armies on four sides (in no particular order):
Green — Environmentalism
Green — Islamic
Brown — South American Fascism
Red — A revived and invigorated Socialism (don’t say “communism.”)
Our only hope is that somehow these four groups can be induced to fight among themselves.
Quoting Ms. Rand — No one should need as much luck as this country does.
Is it just me or does Daniels take from Venezuela News and Views sound like something is a miss?
“The ballots were all clearly marked NO, but inspecting the chads clearly shows that the winner is actually SI.”
Scary that a nation can vote whether to end freedom, liberty, property rights, and capitalism–and that it would be close.
This is a perfect example of how spreading mob democracy should never have been the Bush administration foreign policy goal but rather spreading liberty and capitalism.
Al Gore and Jimmah Cottah can help them count the votes!
Gabe #19 It’s scary to think that is what the next election here will be about. And that it will be close also.
almeehan, thank you, I feel much better now.
I was really worried for the people of Venezuela, but surely they can survive Chavez if we can survive Gore AND Carter.
It would not surprise me that if he loses, he will declare the results null and void, since it was a CIA plot against him. He will bash Bush for interfering, declare martial law, and take over all power anyway. It always goes that way with meglomaniac leaders.
brookly red,
The real question is not Did we survive Gore and Carter but will we survive 4 more years of the Clintons? That truly does scare me.
…and it’s the US who should be feared… People never cease to amaze me.
That bird is going to need therapy before this is all over BG
I don’t think that many people voted (Si) that is just for public consumption. The vote was just to make the action of dictatorship, look legitimate, when was the last time a dictatorship – was legitimate. When asked, the bird replied, I am the people’s bird, please people, don’t eat me. Hugo, could not be reached for comment GRIN
I’ve been a lil busy and watchin games but flippin around channels, the news from there is deafening….sheesh.
What part of Dictator doesn’t everyone understand? The election is rigged to favor Fatty-Hugoweenie.
lol taters, I think everyone does understand….
trinitytim, oh yea of little faith…
Let not your heart be troubled… our 40 yrs are over in 2008.
It is going to be interesting to see how this shakes out when we get up tomorrow. Prayers up for the good people of Venezuela may they defeat this threat to their freedoms. All we need is another dictator for life in South America.
Perhaps. I just hope it is not the beginning of forty days and forty nights. Brings another thought to mind. A day is as a thousand years.
Rumor has it he’s going to rename the Country Hugoregon.
Wartip. I’m with you. A day with the liars is like a thousand years.
Red, my faith is intact and it is not with these earthly “leaders??”
Have faith in your Countrymen.
If the people of NY (aka Sodom on Hudson) can reject the notion of illegal drivers licences (aka voter fraud) then surely, the witch has no chance of standing in the light of day.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Red. Let me just say that:
I pray you are correct.
From your mouth to God’s ear, Red.
Faux News Alert:
Illegal alien voters from Hollywood California give Hugo the winning votes.
Sean Penn could not be reached for comment.
lol, sean penn = loser
And that’s just Jimmy Carter. Imagine how bad Chavez will be!
Awww Bear! Why do you think they came to Cali in the first place… to escape Hugo? Well 1 in a 1,000 anyway-where is the fence?
What a joke…Who runs the elections there? Does anyone else think that the election was over before it began?
I feel sorry for those people. I wonder how Cubans would vote if they had an election to re-elect Castro?
Anyway, it’s not our country so let em suffer for giving theirs away.
I hope we don’t give ours away.
I’m afraid we will if the wrong person becomes president in 2008.
Rose, look around you, we already have…
In 2008 we start to take it back. Have faith in your Countrymen.
I have faith in God. It’s His kids I have trouble with.
Are you not one of them?
Be looking for Hugo to ask Naomi Campbell to be his vice president and Danny Glover his new secretary of state…
That is true but take a look at the bigger picture.
Are his ambitions limited to only Venezuela?
Will he shut off the oil to the US?
If so, how high will the gas go?
By teaming up with other dictators in the western hemisphere, the middle east, and probably Russia we could be in big trouble and I do mean BIG.
Best to stop him now, not later. Once again I call for the repeal of the executive order that prohibits the assasination of leaders of enemy nations.
Yes I am.brooklyn red. I have a problem with those that would turn the country over to Liberals.
T Tim, dictators are always ambitious…
Will he shut off oil to the US? Maybe.
Will we blocade his oil & drive him down? Maybe.
If I have to bet, I bet on our Navy.
Marshall Russ
Ditto
Red,
I always bet on our military but you first have to figure out a way for the President to authorize the use of military force.
Congress is screaming about No Force in Iran right now. Can you imagine what the response would be if the President talked about using our military in South Armerica.
That’s why I say start at the top.
One sniper.
One 50 cal sniper rifle.
One shot.
New era
Save a lot of American and Venezuelan lives. Mission accomplished.
Marshall, I am with you, but the liberals are already here. Tell me that I am wrong. The question is who will they give the country to? (assuming there still is a country & not a continental union)
I say we take it back in 08… are you down wit dat.
Listed below is more updates from the msm coverage down there:
..
brooklyn red.
If a liberal(Hillary) is elected.
We will have a liberal SCOTUS for the next 30 years. Higher taxes. Higher energy costs. A liberal appointed to the FCC to shift the balance and make life rough for talk radio(free speech fairness doctrine).Open borders and 38 million new Democrats. For starters.
But, I’m wit ya.
No Hillary o8.
I remember hearing Slick Willy wax hopeful about the
American people changing THAT amendment so that
a person could serve more than 8 years as president.
It reminded me of my children when they didn’t want
to come right out and ask me for something but chose
the round about way of asking. It was, I cannot come
right out and ask this, but if the American people know that I want this and am available, surely they will
act. Of course that is before the other half threw her
hat into the ring.
Marshall, all that you say is the truth.
And it is scary! But have faith in your Countrymen! Already the witch has been exposed and rejected… the new threat is Osama, excuse me Obama. True we are still threatened by liberalism… but now the contest is based on ideas & without the vote of illegals or some other fraud, they loose.
Hotair is linking to…
Gateway Pundit
Chavez Wins?
Texas voting system and past votes cast is being audited. We hear that no illegals have voted and no
unregistered voters have voted nor have dead people
voted. And the moon really is made of green cheese and Hugo Chavez will not rig the election.
As democracy dies, so goes Hollywood singing it’s praises.
#7
Kim Jong Il
Rose,
audited by whom?
I’m not certain. I think that I need to find more info than what is being fed to us. I know that the state is
trying to assure us that Illegals are not voting enmasse
from about halfway down TX to the border. I know that they do not vote in our city election because I
run that election, at least in the 4 combined precincts
at my polling place. At another, they would be so out
of place that they really wouldn’t try and at the last,
well, that judge is sharp and wouldn’t let them vote if
she could help it but we have been told that we must let people vote regardless and fill out the
appropriate paperwork and then the voter registrars office will ascertain whether or not it needs to go to D.A.s office. However, I have never
known of any to go to DA and for anyone to be
prosecuted for illegally voting. The state asked for
this audit and I was given to understand that it is
by federal office. Don’t really trust Perry anymore.
Thank you Rose & God bless.
The state is auditing past elections/votes??!! Ahhhhhhhhhh!
I don’t use these words lightly…God Damn!
Madame hostess, could this be so?
I just had a chance to try again to find something on
the audit. According to chron.com, it is a state audit
by state auditors and 49,000 questionable names have
been found on voter rolls. The tenor of the article seems to be that since they were unable to check for
US citizenship status or for felony convictions or verify
records that lacked an SS# or Drivers License # they
cannot say for certain that there have been no illegal
votes cast.
A lot of the info they need is hampered by privacy laws and since it is felt that ID needs to be shown at polling places and since Perry and a large portion
of state government is GOP and of course since
George W Bush is president, the GOP is being accused of wanting to reinstate Jim Crow laws to hold back the blacks and poor and now, illegals.
I can remember when the Republican party was just
coming into its own in this area we were told of a
precinct that was black and its democrat precinct
chairman and election judge would call voters and
tell them not to bother to come in because they had
already voted. He regularly voted 110% in his precinct. It took years to get that guy out.
Then, there were Dems grabbing GOP ballot boxes
after the primaries and taking off across country with them in the backs of their pickups.
This wasn’t in the forties, fifties, or early sixties. It
was in the second half of the sixties and into the
seventies.
The people that were talking were people that had
lived through this stuff. They were GOP when it was
a dirty word here in TX.
My bad, & I will be judged accordingly… I ask mercy, that my mistrust of the government does cloud my
judgement.
Still I wonder…
They seem to be mainly looking at the May 12th
election. We are one of the states that seem to be on
the list to NOT be audited when it comes to our voting
machines. I do like the OptiScan that is used locally.
It reads a hand marked ballot, prints out a tape
containing all pertinent info when machine is closed,
but you still have that ballot to hand count if necessary.
As for Chavez…his promises of shared communal
wealth, etc sound like something that has been
promised, of late, in this country. Oh, not in the same words, but the same idea in taking money from business’ profits to “pass around.”
Oh, Rose…
Comparing Chavez & Democrats is like comparing Coke & Pepsi.
Hey Brooklyn Red, any elections in NYC between the 9th and 13th of Dec. I’ll be in town and was wondering if I might drop my ballot in the box.
As for Chavez, vote him into exile.
I respect Hugo Chavez. He has done alot for the West Indies as has Fidel Castro.
What’s this about Rudy saying that the blind should be
able to carry guns?
72, just stop by any library & fill out an absentee ballot, they are good till 2010. & you have a choice of 8 languages! Helluvatown!
73, I respect you too mam.
A couple of elections ago, Dallas County had a stink
about people who were kind enough to fill in the
mail in ballots for you. You didn’t even have to bother
to mark the ballot. No sweat. They aim to please.
Rose, that was about one retired officer who lost his sight… personally I think a reasonable person should be able to shoot on scent… tell me I am wrong.
But don’t worry, in NY the only people with guns are rappers & Rosie’s body guards. Oh and a few thousand criminals.
I run into a lot of people that smell strongly enough
that I could shoot on scent with eyes closed. Just don’t
want goof down the street thinking that he can get his
legally blind son a gun. Kid has already tried to drive a
car and nearly killed a house and garage.
Don’t worry… Rudy has his faults but he is still better than a Dem.
This from Caracas Chronicles who has a slew of pre-vote polls showing the NO vote winning:
Quico says: Multiple sources inside CNE now confirm it. Chávez’s constitutional reform proposal has been defeated at the polls. An official announcement is imminent.
The official announcement will call for a recount or perhaps even just announce that the SI vote won narrowly.
I cannot imagine Chavez admitting defeat on this.
And if he looses the vote, that’s when he breaks out the real cement. Ya know, cement “guest rooms,” cement spa treatments, cement overcoats…
Either way, it is not legitimate to have a mob decide whether it wants to eliminate personal property and steal the possessions of the middle class and wealthy.
Liberties, freedom, capitalism, and the right to own property without the state stealing it is far more important than mob democracy. Even if 51% want a communist state, that should not be considered a right to have one and end all freedoms.
So what’s next?
Marshall law, Recounts, Riots, Acceptance, Peace, Freedom? Maybe cut off of oil to USA.
Tomorrow might be even more intersting than today.
Oh, and I noticed elsewhere that they’re using electronic voting machines. Wait ’till the American Left gets a wiff of this, man. They hate electronic voting machines, they’re not gonna stand for this, they’ll be outraged.
Robert Kennedy Jr. can tell you how easy it is to hack those things. He doesn’t want us using them here because of our dictatorial and sneaky president and his cheating, evil party. I’m sure he’ll make sure everything was on the up and up.
/sarc off
There is no way he will, he is such a nutcase. But at least now maybe the Bush administration will really do something about Chavez if he tries to go ahead with his plan for a communist state.
Well, if Chavez the commie loses this, it’ll be Bush’s fault.
For cryin’ out loud, if a liberal slips on a banana peel it’s Bush’s fault.
Chavez lost. The final tally is less that one percent…. which is probably BS manipulation in an attempt to save face.
Wow, an authentic upside down question mark. That’s high class blogging.
Freedom Loving People of Venezuela say Si to NO!!
Socialism has been R.E.J.E.C.T.E.D.!
To celebrate the election results – I’m assuming reports Hugo lost are true – how about refraining from purchasing anything at Citgo locations through December 31st?
Now, that would leave a mark.
#86! Such attitude!! Remember the words of Stan Goff?
EVERYTHING which is considered bad to a moonbat is GWB’s fault!!
Chavez lost by two points and according to the AP, he has conceded.