Politics in Venezuela (circa January 2009)
November 2008, Regional Elections Late last year Venezuelans once again turned up to vote for and against a series of potent symbols: ‘21st Century Socialism’, the ‘Bolivarian Revolution’, and the most impressive of all current political tokens in Venezuela and possibly across Latin America, Hugo Chávez. The elections on 23 November 2008 weren’t presidential elections—these were held just over two years ago—but rather local and regional elections. And we are now once more preparing for a referendum to be held in mid February, a vote on a constitutional amendment that will decide whether Chavez can seek re-election once his current term ends in 2012. At the outset of the three-month long campaign for state governors and local mayors—an election that would decide the fate of over 600 officials and their governed—Chavez had strategically done all he could to transform the gubernatorial and mayoral elections into a national plebiscite on himself, the revolution and his leadership. The end...