The argument about President Hugo Chávez' plan to reform Venezuela's constitution to allow for successive re-election – now extended to apply not just to the head of state but every elected official – continues to generate hot air rather than genuine political heat.
There's an air of both sides of the argument going through the motions of having a debate before the re-election issue is submitted to a referendum, possibly in mid-February. Now, Chávez is deemed to have thrown a spanner into the equation by saying the change should be not just about him but everybody else as well. Predictably, the two sides are largely split down the political divide between those who like the president and those who can't stand the sight of the man. That said, a number of public statements by some individuals and the findings of opinion polls suggest that not all the president's fans are on his side on this one.
The mainstream opposition has entirely predictably come out in outright opposition to the re-election move, even after Chávez broadened its scope. Calling the press into the headquarters of one of the leading opposition parties, Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), they categorically rejected the idea of repeated re-election as anti-democratic. UNT is the party of the former Zulia state governor, former Presidential candidate and frequent target of government-inspired but as yet unproven allegations of wrongdoing – Manuel Rosales. After two successive terms as governor, Rosales stood for mayor of the state capital, Maracaibo, and won comfortably. Omar Barboza, UNT party president, said the sudden switch to a new concept of generalized multiple re-election was a trick on people who'd signed a petition in favor of the original plan.
Caracas Metropolitan Mayor Antonio Ledezma and his fellow opposition municipal mayors in the capital also rejected the idea of "indefinite" re-election to public posts. Ledezma said he was alarmed that the National Electoral Council (CNE) – in theory, a politically neutral elective authority – was distributing funds for campaigning about the referendum. Ledezma's point was that the decision on whether or not to put the presidential proposal – in whatever form – to a referendum had not actually been decided yet. In effect, he was arguing that the CNE was actively involved in pushing the idea of a vote being held, and he implied it was out to help the pro-reform camp.
By no means do all the misgivings about the reform plan originate with the opposition and others critical of Chávez. National Assembly Deputy Luis Tascón, who's been disowned by Chávez' United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) but insists he's still on board with the president, warned that the re-election plan could spell trouble for the democratic order. Tascón suggested that Chávez had broadened the scope of his proposal to increase his chances of winning the right to a further consecutive re-election bid after his current second term ends in 2012. But he said the peril in doing this was the prospect of creating bastions of pro- and anti-Chávez political power with individuals staying on in office for 30 years or more. In this, Tascón was echoing other doubters who warn that removing the term limits on electoral office could undermine the democratic custom of power changing hands and contending parties alternating in office.
Remarks by people such as Tascón, combined with the results of a string of opinion polls, suggest that Chávez may find himself out on a limb in his second attempt to remove the ban on repeated re-election.
The polls show that at least half and perhaps as many as two-thirds of voters don't favor the idea. If the polls are accurate, and taking into account that the president won several elections in a row with majorities of around 60 percent of the votes cast, they suggest that some of his supporters do not seem to be in agreement with Chávez Forever.
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