CARACAS, VENEZUELA — Voters on Sunday defeated a package of constitutional reforms that could have indefinitely extended President Hugo Chavez's grip on power here. It was a shocking electoral loss for the strongman, his first in nine years at the helm.
Voters defeated two ballot measures that would have changed 69 articles in Venezuela's Constitution, which was rewritten in 1999, the year Chavez took office. Margins were tight on both, with the "no" votes edging the "yes" votes by 50.7% to 49.3% and 51% to 49%.
At a news conference after the National Electoral Council's release of its official bulletin that declared the results to be "irreversible" at 1:20 a.m. local time, Chavez exhorted his supporters, "Don't feel sad or weighed down. . . . This was a microscopic difference but with the 'no's' on top.
"I congratulate my opponents for their victory. To use a phrase from February 1992, we've fallen short for now," a reference to Chavez's admission of defeat after his abortive coup attempt that ended in his imprisonment but that launched his political career.
Some analysts predicted before the results were released -- nine tense hours after balloting ended -- that the loss, in destroying Chavez's mantle of invincibility, would embolden his domestic opponents. What seems certain is that the defeat will energize the opposition, especially student groups that took to the street to oppose the reforms.
"We'll continue in the struggle to build socialism within the framework of this constitution," Chavez said, holding aloft a booklet containing the 1999 constitution.
Chavez said he could have prolonged the tension by demanding continued scrutiny of the votes, but decided to concede defeat to spare the nation possible conflict.
"Those of you who were nervous I wouldn't recognize the results, you can go home quietly and celebrate."
Voter turnout was a low 55%, a level analysts thought would never carry opponents to victory.
The vote was closer than any of Chavez's seven previous nationwide votes dating back to his election to office in December 1998, all of which he won handily. Chavez framed the reforms as critical to deepening his socialist Bolivarian Revolution, which has channeled billions of oil dollars to social outreach programs for free education, healthcare and discount groceries for the poor.
