Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez went on television early Monday morning to accept the results of a regional vote where his party failed to secure key state and municipal governments. "The people have spoken again, and the winner is the Venezuelan people," Chavez said in a televised address from the headquarters of the Venezuelan United Socialist Party, or PSUV.
"We will have to propose more voting booths to make it easier for people to vote from now on," the president said, referring to a record turnout for a regional election in recent years. "Who can possibly say there's a dictatorship in Venezuela?," he asked.
The electoral authority announced that the leftist PSUV managed to gain control over most state governments, but announced that opposition leaders managed to control the oil-rich state of Zulia and Nueva Esparta, the country's main tourism hub.
In a surprise result, opposition forces also managed to win the second-most populous state of Miranda and the Caracas municipal government, the most important municipality in the country. Chavez insisted that this defeat proves that Venezuela's institutions do work, despite concerns from some opposition leaders of a possible electoral fraud. "We respect the decisions of the people," Chavez said.
Keeping control of traditionally opposition states and gaining ground in others appears to give a glimmer of hope to the opposition of a comeback in a country almost totally dominated by pro-Chavez forces.
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