Saturday, November 24, 2007

Chavez power grab to fail?

Via Hot Air headlines...

From the too good to be true department, there's news of a recent poll indicating that Venezuela's Commie in Chief Hugo Chavez may lose out in his power grab referendum.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has lost his lead eight days before a referendum on ending his term limit, an independent pollster said on Saturday, in a swing in voter sentiment against the Cuba ally.

Forty-nine percent of likely voters oppose Chavez's proposed raft of constitutional changes to expand his powers, compared with 39 percent in favor, a survey by respected pollster Datanalisis showed.

[ ... ]

Chavez has trounced the opposition at the polls on average once a year and can deploy a huge state-backed machinery to get out the vote, Leon said.

Still, the survey was the latest blow to Chavez. He has suffered a series of defections over his plan, including an ex-defense minister who had restored him to power after a brief 2002 putsch but who called Chavez's reforms a new "coup."
If Chavez fails in effectively replacing the constitution with one-man rule, he'll have to leave office by 2013. But, polls notwithstanding, I don't expect the referendum to fail. Chavez will find a way to get this through, especially if Jimmy Carter returns to monitor it.

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