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Chávez Extends Rule in ‘Perfect Victory

By John Paul Rathbone & Benedict Mander

AS/COA’s Eric Farnsworth assesses the Venezuelan presidential election results that gave the incumbent Hugo Chávez a newly six-year term.

 

In the end, there was none of the violence that so many feared. But then the incumbent, Hugo Chávez, comfortably won Venezuela’s presidential election, extending his 14-year socialist rule for another six years and cementing, for now, his position as one of Latin America’s most commanding figures.

Standing on the balcony of Miraflores presidential palace on Sunday night, Mr Chávez brandished the sword of Simon Bolívar, his 19th century hero, and declared “it was a perfect victory” to the cheers of red-shirted supporters in the plaza below. “Every day, people are more in agreement with the Bolivarian revolution.”

Mr Chávez overcame three cancer operations to win with 55 per cent, a 1.5m vote lead over rival Henrique Capriles, who secured 44 per cent of the vote.

Although that is less than the 63 per cent he won in the 2006 presidential vote, “in the context of the US election a 10-point lead counts as a landslide”, said Eric Farnsworth, vice-president of the Washington-based Americas Society/Council of the Americas....

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