85% of Vote Reported to Back Rewrite of Venezuela's Charter

The New York Times April 26, 1999 85% of Vote Reported to Back Rewrite of Venezuela's Charter

By LARRY ROHTER

          CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelans Sunday overwhelmingly
          approved a government-backed proposal to convoke a national
          assembly to write a new constitution. The decision signals the
          disintegration of the political system that has been in place here for more
          than 40 years.

          Less than half of 11 million eligible voters apparently took part in the
          referendum, called by President Hugo Chavez as part of his plan to install
          what he calls "a true participatory democracy" in this oil-producing South
          American country.

          That immediately led opposition leaders to question the legitimacy of the
          official results, in which more than 85 percent of those who cast ballots
          favored a new constitution on the president's terms.

          Nevertheless, the outcome of Sunday's vote, combined with the passage
          Thursday of a special "enabling" law that allows Chavez, a 44-year-old
          former Army paratrooper, to rule by decree on economic matters,
          significantly strengthens the position of Venezuela's new leader.

          His supporters said that was exactly what this country, which has
          become the principal supplier of oil to the United States in recent years,
          requires.

          "We need to untie the hands of our president and give him the powers he
          needs so that he can really govern and make the changes Venezuela
          needs," Pureza Duenas, a 47-year-old nurse, said as she waited to vote
          Sunday morning. "He can't do that in this fake democracy we have, in
          which a bunch of corrupt politicians use a flawed constitution to hold him
          in check."

          But opponents of the proposal have expressed concern at Chavez's
          behavior since he took office in February, seven years after leading a
          violent but unsuccessful coup attempt.

          That conduct has included making threats to declare a state of emergency
          that would give him enhanced powers, expanding the military's role and
          announcing that he intends to seek a second consecutive five-year term
          of office, something the current charter prohibits.

          "The president is right in wanting to correct the many shortcomings in our
          institutions, but no single person should be given absolute power," said
          Luz Marina Rondon, a 42-year-old engineer.

          "We need gradual change, not a radical change, and it needs to be
          carried out within the existing system so that the economy and stability of
          the country are not damaged."

          Because the attributes and powers of the constitutional assembly have
          not been clearly detailed, political turbulence seems likely to increase, not
          diminish, as a result of Sunday's vote. Last month, for instance, the
          Supreme Court ruled that the assembly will not have the power to
          dissolve Congress or the court system, as Chavez had originally
          proposed.

          Chavez has given strong indications, though, that he intends to defy the
          ruling, which he dismissed last week as meaningless. "It would be the
          same as me decreeing that the sun will not rise in the morning," he said.

          Under the procedures approved by voters Sunday, the constitutional
          assembly will consist of 131 members to be chosen in a special election,
          likely to be held late next month, in which candidates apparently will not
          be allowed to run under party banners.

          Counting from the day it is sworn in, which Chavez suggests should be
          July 5, Venezuela's Independence Day, the panel will have six months to
          draw up a new charter, which will then be put to a popular vote.