did you have any doubt that this was going to happen? chaves will never relinquish power, not peacefully anyways!

tony

I never expected otherwise. The best the Venezuelan people can hope now--nay--the best they could have hoped for since the failed coup, is a civil war ending in the defeat of the Communists. Otherwise it is Cuba all over again.

What I can't understand is the size of the landslide. 3.5 signatures were gathered for the recall. 3.2 "Si" votes declared by the government this morning. It's an impossibility. And it's the exact opposite result declared by the NGO Sumate in their exit polling. Until I hear from CC/OAS, I call it a fraud. --s

I think the CNE director's announcement may have been premature. We may be hearing a different outcome soon. I pray. The NGO Sumate had exit polling that showed "Si" winning by 59%. Sheesh.

I fear all hell is going to break loose in Venezuela my friends.

No surprise from what I have read. Very sad. There is an excellent article regarding voting trends in Latin America.
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/
Latin America Crackup?

Chavez won. Carter and the OAS except the results. In fact, I have seen comments from the US administration where they accept the results.

I actually thought the "Si" would win. But as my wife, who is Venezuelan, pointed out to me, Venezuela is a very poor country and populists tend to win in poor countries.

As far as the petition goes - I think the opposition only ever got 2.6 million valid signatures even after the "Reparos". So the 3.5 million number from last night is plausible if surprising.

I think the coup and last years strike probably cost the opposition a lot of votes.

The reporter sounds like she's cheering in this lead:
"CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelans overwhelmingly voted to keep President Hugo Chavez in office, dealing a crushing defeat to a splintered opposition and allowing the leftist leader to convert one of the biggest challenges of his presidency into an even broader mandate to carry on his "revolution for the poor.""

Could she get a Duranty Prize for that lead?

Of course, the encouraging thing about this time was that there WAS an opposition - which garnered at least 40 percent of the vote. Next time, I fear there won't be an opposition.