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A constitutional referendum was held in Venezuela on 2 December 2007 to amend 69 articles of the 1999 Constitution. Reform was needed, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, to initiate the transformation into a socialist country; detractors said he was using the reforms to become a dictator. The referendum was narrowly defeated, giving Chávez the first election loss of his nine-year presidency. University student protests and opposition from former allies helped fuel the defeat, but the referendum results and the 44% abstention rate suggest that support also waned among Chávez's traditional base of Venezuela's poor. Chávez conceded defeat by saying "for now, we couldn't" ''("por ahora no pudimos"''),〔Matthew Walter and Helen Murphy. (Venezuelans Reject Chavez's Plans for Constitution (Update1). ) ''Bloomberg'', 3 December 2007. Accessed on 3 December 2007〕 echoing the phrase he used after the failure of the February 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempt.〔 ==Proposal== On 15 August 2007, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez proposed an amendment to 33 articles of Venezuela's 350-article Constitution. A constitutional provision allows the president, the National Assembly of Venezuela or a constituent assembly to ask for changes; reform should be approved by a national referendum. The 1999 constitution was promoted by Chávez and adopted by popular referendum. The proposed constitutional reforms were needed, according to Chávez, to complete the transition to a socialist republic〔 and implement his socialist agenda; detractors said he was using the reforms to become a dictator.〔 The proposal was hailed by government supporters as "the start of a new era towards socialism", but ''Podemos'', a pro-government party, expressed disagreement and claimed Chávez was seeking lifelong power.〔 Venezuela's constitutional procedures require three debates before the National Assembly, to reform the constitution.〔 The first debate was successfully held on 21 August 2007 and gave initial approval to the general purpose of the reform.〔 During the second successful vote on 11 September 2007, the National Assembly added amendments to the original Chávez reform proposal, again angering the ''Podemos'' party, which said that the National Assembly had infringed the Constitution.〔〔("Constitutional Reform Project is approved in its second discussion" ), Mathaba.net, 12 September 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.〕 The third vote on 25 October 2007 approved the proposal, enlarged from 33 articles to 69.〔("Chavez gets constitutional reform backing from Venezuelan Congress" ), Deutsche Presse-Agentur (monstersandcritics.com), 25 October 2007. Retrieved on 4 December 2007.〕 Final parliamentary approval for the referendum was given on 2 November 2007. The final proposal included 69 constitutional amendments to be voted on in two blocks: 33 that were originally proposed by President Chávez plus another 13 articles introduced by the National Assembly (Proposal A) and 23 more reform articles proposed by the National Assembly (Proposal B).〔 Proposed changes included:〔 Also available at (CBS News )〕 * abolish presidential term limits, allowing for indefinite re-election of the president (not allowed for any other political post), * expand social security benefits to workers in the informal economy, * end the autonomy of the central bank, giving control to the president, and place the president in charge of administering the country's international reserves, * prohibit large land estates, while "allowing the state to provisionally occupy property slated for expropriation before a court has ruled",〔 * reorganize the country's administrative districts and allow the president to control elected state governors and mayors by an unelected “popular power” dependent on the presidency, * reduce the maximum working week from 44 to 36 hours and reduce the workday from eight to six hours, * lower the voting age from 18 to 16, * increase the presidential term from six to seven years, * allow the president to declare an unlimited state of emergency, * prohibit foreign funding for political associations. * allow public funding for political associations. * ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.〔http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6236.html〕 *Change the name of Caracas to "Bolivar's Cradle and Queen of the Guaraira Repano" (La Cuna de Bolivar y Reina del Guaraira Repano) 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Venezuelan constitutional referendum, 2007」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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