Polls about to close in Venezuelan referendum

Hugo Chavez
©AFP - Yuri Cortez

CARACAS - A bid by President Hugo Chavez to rule for life and turn Venezuela into a socialist economy was put to the polls Sunday in a referendum seen as too close to call after weeks of protests.

As ballot stations were about to close at 4:00 pm (2000 GMT), voters and officials waited anxiously for exit polls and the first official results.

The 53-year-old leftwing president, who was asking the country to give him the right to seek re-election indefinitely, exuded confidence when he cast his own ballot in a poor Caracas suburb.

"This is a win for Venezuelan democracy, a win for the construction of the Venezuelan nation," he said, holding his baby grandson.

He said he would "accept the result" of the referendum and called on the opposition to do the same.

Venezuelan citizens line up waiting for their turn to vote
©AFP - Rodrigo Arangua

Previously, in his campaigning, the former-paratrooper-turned-head-of-state had labeled all those opposing him "traitors".

He has also warned he would halt oil exports to the United States if violence he suspects is being fomented by the CIA breaks out after the vote.

Pre-poll surveys suggested Chavez faced a big challenge in getting his reforms accepted. Ballot intentions among Venezuela's 16 million voters were almost evenly split between the 'yes' and 'no' camps.

Even many of the poor who count as Chavez's traditional powerbase balked at the constitutional changes, which would give the government the right to expropriate property in the name of the socialist revolution the president espouses.

Venezuelan National Guard soldiers search for their names on a list prior to voting
©AFP - Yuri Cortez

Other controversial measures included allowing authorities to stifle the media in times of emergency, lengthening the presidential term from six years to seven, and giving the president control over new regional officials to be introduced.

Sweetners included cutting the workweek from 40 hours to 36 and reinforcing costly social programs improving literacy and health among the poor.

Chavez, who first came to power in 1999, has said he wants to remain in charge "until 2050," when he would be 95.

Tulio Hernandez, a professor at the Central University of Venezuela, said the president's undeniable charisma could play a crucial role in favor of the referendum.

"People have never voted to support his socialist projects," Hernandez told AFP. "But he is a living incarnation of the savior, which is a very Latin American tradition."

An Army soldier keeps watch at the entrance of a polling station as citizens queue up to vote
©AFP - Juan Barreto

Fears of fraud were voiced in some of the centers after the discovery that the ink used to color voters' thumbs as they arrived for their ballots was easily removed.

But Vicente Diaz, a member of the National Electoral Council (NEC), dismissed the complaints, saying the ink had been approved by officials and the opposition before polling began.

Unlike in past elections, there were no EU or Organization of American States election monitors, only international observers invited by the government.

University students who had led the street protests against the reform were also accredited as observers.

One of them, Aldo Yallonardo, 20, told AFP: "The people will not allow any fraud to take place."