South America
Venezuela's Chavez seeks reelection move "now"
By Reuters
Dec 1, 2008, 20:17

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela President Hugo Chavez launched a campaign on Monday to change the constitution so he can stay in office as long as he wins elections, a year after voters rejected the same proposal.

The socialist leader is pushing forward his effort to consolidate power after winning a majority of the OPEC nation's states in regional elections last month, even though opposition leaders gained in key states and the capital of Caracas.

"Today we begin the battle for the constitutional amendment," Chavez told a cheering crowd of supporters at the inauguration of an allied governor. "If we are going to do it, let's do it quickly. If we are going to do it, there's no tomorrow, no, no, it's now, now."

Chavez last year narrowly lost a broad constitutional reform referendum that would have lifted a two-term limit on presidential office while consolidating his power and enshrining socialism as the country's economic system.

Without a constitutional change, Chavez would leave office in 2013.

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