CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Humbled by his first electoral defeat ever, President Hugo Chavez said Monday he may have been too ambitious in asking voters to le
t him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state.
"I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent.
Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight - with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena.
Some shed tears. Others began chanting: "And now he's going away!"
t him stand indefinitely for re-election and endorse a huge leap to a socialist state."I understand and accept that the proposal I made was quite profound and intense," he said after voters narrowly rejected the sweeping constitutional reforms by 51 percent to 49 percent.
Opposition activists were ecstatic as the results were announced shortly after midnight - with 88 percent of the vote counted, the trend was declared irreversible by elections council chief Tibisay Lucena.
Some shed tears. Others began chanting: "And now he's going away!"
......and then the bad news!!!
MOSCOW (AP) - European election monitors said Monday that Russia's parliamentary ballot was unfair, hours after President Vladimir Putin's party swept 70 percent of the seats
in the new legislature.
The victory paves the way for Putin to remain Russia's de facto leader even after he leaves office next spring. On Monday, Putin described the weekend's election as a vote of confidence in him.
"I headed the United Russia ticket and, of course, it's a sign of public trust," Putin said in televised remarks.
Sunday's vote followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for the United Russia party and for Putin, who has used a flood of oil revenues to move his country into a more assertive position on the global stage.
Opposition leader Garry Kasparov denounced the legitimacy of the vote.
"There are no illusions that what is being called elections was the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia," the former chess champion said at a news conference.
Kasparov, who heads the Other Russia coalition of opposition groups, was arrested and jailed for five days for leading a protest rally in Moscow on Nov. 24. His group wasn't allowed to run for parliament.
in the new legislature.The victory paves the way for Putin to remain Russia's de facto leader even after he leaves office next spring. On Monday, Putin described the weekend's election as a vote of confidence in him.
"I headed the United Russia ticket and, of course, it's a sign of public trust," Putin said in televised remarks.
Sunday's vote followed a tense Kremlin campaign that relied on a combination of persuasion and intimidation to ensure victory for the United Russia party and for Putin, who has used a flood of oil revenues to move his country into a more assertive position on the global stage.
Opposition leader Garry Kasparov denounced the legitimacy of the vote.
"There are no illusions that what is being called elections was the most unfair and dirtiest in the whole history of modern Russia," the former chess champion said at a news conference.
Kasparov, who heads the Other Russia coalition of opposition groups, was arrested and jailed for five days for leading a protest rally in Moscow on Nov. 24. His group wasn't allowed to run for parliament.
Guess fifty percent is better than zero, but this Russian thing is scary... and the Chavez loss puts Ole' Pecoz to thinkin' about all those School Board Bond issues that get defeated so they end up right back on the next election's ballot until folks opposing them get tired of showin' up to vote. Then it passes!
No comments:
Post a Comment