Caracas Daily Journal (Jeremy Morgan): Both sides of the political spectrum appeared to step back to consider the outcome of an election in which it seemed neither side had really won but nor had the other lost. There was muted reaction across the divide as they began to take stock.
There was little of the abrasive approach from President Hugo Chavez which had raised questions about his conduct during the campaign. Instead, he chose to adopt a statesman-like approach after the National Electoral Council (CNE) began a process of unveiling the results that still wasn't over on Monday.
The people of Venezuela had once more spoken and expressed themselves almost nine years after the new Constitution had gone into effect at his behest, Chavez said. He saluted the "millions who voted, went to express their opinion in a civic, democratic, happy manner with very few incidents" in a "triumph of the Constitution."
The opposition urged the president to "convoke the new political forces" that had won, a reference to their gaining control of three states and Metropolitan Caracas. They, too, lauded the "civic attitude" shown by the people.
Julio Borges of Primero Justicia noted that the opposition had been "95 percent successful" in reaching agreement on single unity candidates before the election. This, it appeared, was a message that the opposition shouldn't forget and would serve in the future. At present, no elections are scheduled for next year.
Across the divide, Vanessa Davies, a senior official in the top echelon of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSU), evidently had her eye on political horizons as well. She said that with the regional elections out of the way, the time had come to "open the way to the revolutionary revision and re-impulse." She, it seemed, had little time for people basking in the moment of victory or relief, either.
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