Chávez's Base Rebukes Him at Polls

From Wall Street Journal:

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez's dual ambitions -- to stay in power for life and wield outsize influence on the global stage -- took a major hit in an election that showed him losing support among some of the very people that brought him to power: the urban poor.

Venezuelan voters delivered a strong rebuke of his decadelong presidency in Sunday's midterm elections, handing opposition candidates the governorships of three of the country's most populous states and the federal district of Caracas. The results mean that state-level governments over the majority of the population will now be anti- Chávez, though Mr. Chávez retains the loyalty of the leaders of most states and the congress.

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