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CARACAS - A proposed Venezuelan constitutional reform that would eliminate term limits will only apply to the presidency and not to governors and mayors, President Hugo Chavez said yesterday.
The Opec nation is awaiting Chavez's proposal to revamp the constitution he helped write in 1999 as part of a self-styled socialist revolution popular with the poor majority but harshly criticised by adversaries as an attempt to concentrate power.
Chavez said during his regular Sunday broadcast that allied political parties had asked that the move to lift the two-term limit on elected office apply to lower-level posts as well.
"No, no, no, no and a thousand times, no," said Chavez. "If there is to be continuous re-election, or whatever they call it, it should only be for the president of the republic, not for governors and mayors."
Chavez's move to end term limits has sparked concerns that the former soldier - a Cuban ally and US antagonist - is boosting his already tight grip on state institutions.
He has strong control over the court system, his supporters hold 100 percent of the seats in the national legislature and this year he launched a nationalisation campaign that boosted state control over energy and telecommunications.
He said on Sunday his constitutional reform is slated to increase the influence of local community councils and recently created student groups, but did not provide details.
Opposition leaders say Chavez plans to use the constitutional reform programme to loosen private property rights, something the government denies.
Chavez was overwhelmingly re-elected last year thanks largely to an oil-financed social development crusade that has built up his political support in the nation's shantytowns and rural backwaters.
- REUTERS
