Chavez bids for (more) power
A particular brand of populism may help Hugo Chavez win six more years in the presidency. But it raises some worrying questions about the future of Venezuelan democracy
FOR the seventh time in less than two years, political campaigning is under way in Venezuela, this time for a rerun of the “mega-election” originally scheduled for May 28th. That was called off at the last minute, when the incompetence of the electoral authority led it to confess that it was not up to the task. The poll, now due on July 30th, has been scaled back: a new president and Congress will be elected on that day, and state governors and assemblies too, but local councils will be elected later in the year.
This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline “Chavez bids for (more) power”
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