Term Limiting of the Venezuelan Executive

The President of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, raised the possibility that he may seek a referendum so that he may be elected President longer than the Venezuelan constitution allows. Venezuela's constitution was only instituted in 1999, so it is a bit premature to be changing it.

From the BBC article;

During his [Chavez'] weekly TV show on Sunday, he announced he was thinking of calling a referendum to allow him to run for another term in the 2012 elections.

Mr Chavez, who faces re-election this year, said he did not fear competition.

Mr Chavez was first elected in 1998 and then again in 2000 after the approval of a constitution under which he is barred from running in 2012.

He insisted he would allow the Venezuelan people to vote on the issue.

"If there is no opposition candidate, I would consider signing a decree to hold a referendum asking 'Do you agree Chavez should be allowed to seek a new term?' and let's let the people decide."

Sounds to me like the people decided a mere seven years ago - of which term limiting is IMNSHO a wise addition to a constitution.

This is the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela [Beware a printer pop-up]. From Article 230;

The presidential term is six years. The President of the Republic may be re-elected, immediately and once only, to an additional term.

There are some other restrictions on who can run for the Executive position including not being a member of the clergy, or being in certain public office such as Vice-President, Minister, Governor or Mayor at the time of announcing candidacy.

Six years is overly generous anyway.

So what is the referendum process for Venezuela? From Article 71;

Matters of special national transcendence may be referred to a consultative referendum, on the initiative of the President of the Republic, taken at a meeting of the Cabinet;

by resolution of the National Assembly, passed by a majority vote;

or at the request of a number of voters constituting at least 10% of all voters registered on the national, civil and electoral registry.

Matters of special state, municipal and parish transcendence may also be referred to a consultative referendum.

The initiative shall be taken by the Parish Board, the Municipal Council and to the Legislative Council, by the vote of two third of its members; by the Mayor and the Governor or by a number of voters constituting at least 10% of the total number of voters registered in the pertinent circumscription.

Some crowd wisdom aspects there where ten percent of the voting population can bring an initiative to referenda. The President and National Assembly can also.

I get nervous once members of the Executive start talking about changing term limits. Especially in this case; as the paint is barely dry on the Venezuelan constitution.
avocadia: Chavez and Nuisance Referenda:

I can\'t say as I was at all shocked when I first heard Chavez would seek a change to the constitution. The man is halfway through the process that Mugabe is at the end of.

The idea of citizen-initiated referenda is well enough and all, but I can see how it could be subverted to paralysing a government. All the opposition needs to do is get together a regular ten percent of the population to put up nuisance referenda time and time again. You\'d have to have some kind of circuit-breaker to prevent a disruptive opposition group from tying up the country in such.
Alan: Chavez: I would hope Chavez does not seek an extension of his own term. I do not see him as the answer to all Venezuela\'s problems. I think presidents like Kirchner and Lula are significantly better for their peoples. Chavez, however, is a much better answer to Venezuela\'s problems than the neoliberal governments that preceded him and which Washngton would like to see back in power.

Comparing him to Mugabe is a charge not even the Bush claque have raised. He\'s been elected twice in processes certified by international observers. He\'s fought off a coup. He\'s a vigourous opponent of the Bush vision for Latin America. Those are much better explanations for the allegations against him than anything boring like reality.
avocadia: Mugabe comparison:

Wow, deja vu. It only seems like yesterday that I was defending Chavez from charges of anti-semitism and suggesting the ugly reality is better reason to dislike him than making shit up.

Robert Mugabe came to power from elections, elections won after international observers forced previous elections to be voided when certain political parties were forbidden to enter. Robert Mugabe instituted a whole series of social programs  to aid the under-privileged in his society. Robert Mugabe passed legislation that allows his supporters to confiscate land. Robert Mugabe doesn\'t have to deal with term limits and Robert Mugabe has had international observers certify his elections, although to be fair everyone laughs at those particular observers.

Meanwhile, Chavez won elections a few years after failing to take government in a military coup - if he had been toppled by a coup I would have called it karma. Chavez\'s government confiscates land. I seem to remember they pay some nominal fee, but let\'s call a spade a spade, it is confiscation.  I have no doubt at all that seven or eight years from now, Chavez will be rigging elections just like Mugabe.

Saying Chavez a better answer to his predecessors is like saying lung cancer is better than skin cancer.
cam: citizen initiated referenda: I agree that it shouldn\'t allow a referendum to be instituted on that alone. Having a bicameral parliament or assembly ratify the referendum would be wiser. Though, even with a formal constitution, tyrants and dictators subvert the norms first while basking in the glow of legitimacy a constitution and democratic system gives.

cam
Alan: Mugabe comparison: Mugabe rejects election observers. Chavez accepts them including delegations from the EU and the respected Carter Center. On the 2004 recall election, the Carter Center found

On Aug. 27, Venezuelan electoral authorities confirmed President Hugo Chavez\'s victory in the referendum. Though there were accusations of fraud by the opposition, the final official results totaled 59.25 percent for Chavez, 40.74 percent against. The Carter Center participated in an audit of the votes (see final report above) and concluded the results were accurate.

Land reform is a complex issue, notable and successful examples include the land reforms carried out in Japan and South orea by the US occupation. Merely saying that Chavez is carrying out land reform does not make him Mugabe. You have to look at the detals of the program and the way it is carried out.

You might also like to look at what Chavistas have to say about themselves, for instance at Oil Wars .

I don\'t think there\'s a lot of substance in comparing non-existent observers in Zimbabwe to the EU and the Carter Center. Venezuelan democracy is mixed and uneven, but it is nowhere near the dictatorship and denial of human rights that prevails in Zimbabwe.
avocadia: The Observers:

The election observers in Zimbabwe were from South Africa - I don\'t mention this as a way uf suggesting credentials, merely noting that they do indeed exist. Then again, the Carter Centre refused to sign off on the 2000 elections and it has been noted that the audit process was still not one hundred transparent in 2004.

You may wish to note how I said Chavez is at an earlier stage of the process of moving from Populist to Tyrant. It may well turn out I am wrong and he totters off the stage at some stage, but seeking to make laws - even one law - apply to everyone but himself is not a good sign for such hope.
adam: Pro-Chavez op-ed from the Guardian: By \"Red\" Ken Livingstone . Argues Chavez is a welfare state building social democrat. Full literacy in ten years eh? Hmm.

Ken\'s been a pretty good Mayor of London, which inevitably involved a fair amount of shmoozing with businessmen. I wonder if this sort of outspoken foreign policy commentary (he\'s also taken stands quite critical of Israel) is a way of burnishing his lefty credentials.

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