Chavez Loses Supermajority in Venezuelan Parliamentary Elections, Opposition Gains 52% of Popular Vote

Yes, Henri Falcón has emerged in the last few years as Chavez' strongest rival. And he is also a leftist to boot, but a moderate one that is not as extreme as Chavez. It is possible that he will rise up to challenge and even defeat Chavez in the 2012 elections if Chavez' numbers continue to decline.

Falcón is a very popular leader of the opposition and, I believe, the best candidate with a chance to unseat Chavez. And since he is also well known for fighting for the poor he can appeal to Chavez' own supporters, many of whom are becoming disenchanted with Chavez.

WP?

Not gonna happen. The only time it happened in Venezuela was when the USA was behind it, and the purpose was to remove Chavez.

By the way, military coups in Latin America are Right wing initiatives, and they are ALL supported by the USA.

Wrong. Let me refresh your memory:

Hugo Chavez led a military coup himself against the democratically elected government of Carlos Andres Perez on TWO different occasions; once in February 1992 and the second a few months later in November.

Right, right, you're talking about Carlos Andres Perez, who was forced out of the office on 20 May 1993 by the Supreme Court, for the misappropriation of 250 million bolívars belonging to a presidential discretionary fund.

Maybe I should have said SUCCESSFUL military coups in Latin America are Right wing initiatives, and they are ALL supported by the USA.

Chavez remains a military 'golpista' no matter which way you put it. Perez was removed by the Supreme Court like he should have, not by the Cowboy justice of a coup.

I am not sure what you mean by "dictator"?
Chavez came to power democratically, and this was a free election. WFT?

the coup in Cuba was a left wing movement, in case you forgot.
Chavez led a socialist coup against the venezuelan government in 1992. Oops, don't know your history. He was jailed for that fiasco.
the coup in Ecuador that threw out Lucio Gutierrez was a left wing coup, and there is reason to believe that it was orchestrated and funded by Chavez.
Mel Zelaya was attempting a coup in Honduras when he was thrown out, and attempted to instigate a left-wing insurrection afterward.

There is NO credible evidence that the USA had any direct role in the 2002 coup. In fact, the most cited documentation that has been used to suggest US involvement was a memo fom the state department that was shared with the Chavez government that there were indications a coup might be in the works. Why would they warn Chavez of a coup in which they were involved?

I agree, it is good to see that democracy and elections still exist in Venezuela but we still have to see what happens between now and January when the new Assembly begins session. It is possible that they will take these months to try to pass as much as they can before they can't do it anymore.

And it was also indicative of the tampering with electoral rules that the MUD won 52% of the vote and still did not gain a majority. Chavez' government made sure of that with its blatant gerrymandering of electoral districts.

I don't doubt that, but someone as entrenched as he is losing an election is a good sign regardless of any other considerations.

That is certainly true and to Chavez' credit he told his supporters to accept the results. He could have easily dismissed them as having been tampered with and called them off, but he did not.

that's a foolish statement and reveals how little you understand about democracy in general and Venezuela in particular. just becuase there are elections does NOT mean it's "democratic" in any sense we would acknowledge. Chavez has been arresting opposition leaders for years on trumped up charges, forcing the most popular leaders out of the country. He has rigged the courts, the electoral laws, even blatantly violated them. Like Noriega, he uses paramilitary forces to terrorize his opponents and any media that dare to oppose him. He has banned the transmission of any images that he deems "violent", meaning that if his supporters beat up opposition election workers and it is caught on video, it's illegal to show that on TV out of a false "concern for the wellbeing of the children".

you of all people should understand that there is FAR more to democracy than a sham election. if that was all it took, then Cuba would be a democracy...which it isn't obviously.

So true.

☺ LOL

it's called bad journalism.

Want to back that claim up?

....guess not.

They were not full of crap. This is a great step forward for the opposition, but the fact remains that even though they won a majority of the vote with 52% that they did not obtain a legislative majority. Why?

It is no secret that Chavez and his party tampered with many of the electoral districts and took part in gerrymandering right before the election. They restructured many electoral districts to favor them and hurt the opposition.

And they held that supermajority not because the people gave him overwhelming support, but because the opposition made the mistake in 2005 of boycotting the elections.

Chavez is nothing but a dictator. He uses socialism as a tool to remain in power. Other infamous socialist like Hitler did the same thing.

Heh. +^d

That's for you to decide for yourself!

Nice graph! 60 revolutions!