Just over 65% of Venezuelans are against President Hugo Chavez's plan to change the country's constitution to allow the president to be reelected for an infinite number of terms.
The Venezuelan market research company that carried out the poll said 31% were in favor. A similar referendum, held in December 2007, failed to get public backing.
The 54-year-old leader instructed his cabinet and his United Socialist Party to prepare the referendum by the end of February. If the vote goes against Chavez again he will be able to run for president in 2012, but once that term runs out in 2019, he will be forced to step down. "In February, at the end of February, I think we should be ready for the referendum" Chavez said during a televised address.
Chavez made the move to hold a referendum just a week after municipal elections, which saw the opposition win five out of 22 governor seats, as well as a key mayoral seat in the capital, Caracas.
International observers are skeptical, however, as to whether the latest move by Chavez to hold onto power in the country, which is the fourth-largest supplier of oil to the U.S., will be successful as the global financial crisis starts to squeeze important social programs central to the country's socialist reforms.
With oil sales making up 95% of the Latin American country's state income, the drop in global oil prices to under $45 per barrel from mid-2008 highs of $147 will seriously affect Venezuela's budget, which is based on oil prices of $60 per barrel.
In response to the crisis and a reduction in oil production of 129,000 barrels a day, agreed on at an OPEC meeting last month, the government has warned of cuts in foreign aid to its Latin American partners, as well as the introduction of strict spending controls.
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