The American Spectator

Hugo Chavez won yet another six year term as President of Venezuela tonight. The socialist strongman won 54.4% of the vote.

Chavez faced a strong challenge by Henrique Capriles who garnered just under 45% of the vote. Capriles, a former state governor, conceded the election and congratulated Chavez on his victory.

But this was going to be the outcome no matter what. Does anyone honestly think Chavez would have accepted a defeat at the polls?

You might recall that Venezuela’s constitution once had term limits on the presidency. Chavez sought to have this and other provisions of the constitution changed in 2007 but narrowly lost. But Chavez would get his way in a second referendum in 2009 so Chavez can run indefinitely. 

So one way or another, Chavez is President for Life. However, given the state of his health in recent years there’s a good chance Chavez will not survive to the end of his new term. Unfortunately, this means a lot of Venezuelans probably won’t survive until the end of his new term either.