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After President Hugo Chávez won the Venezuelan presidential election with 55 percent of the vote, he reportedly called his rival, Henrique Capriles Radonski, to appeal for “national unity.” They both mentioned their telephone conversation in Twitter posts, referring to “unity and mutual respect.” However, the exchange did not visibly ease relations between Chávez and the opposition.
William Neuman reports that “there was little indication of a warmer tone on display at a news conference held by National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, a leader in Mr. Chávez’s party, who called the vote for Mr. Chávez “a resounding majority.” Additionally, a lot of uncertainty remains about the direction Chávez plans to lead Venezuela, as many are unclear about what his version of “‘21st century socialism,’” will mean.
Many economists believe that Chávez’s plan will be hindered “in the short term by a looming economic reckoning.” Ricardo Hausmann, the director of the Center for International Development at Harvard University warns that “‘they engineered an electoral year boomlet that is now going to fizzle...’”
Mr. Chávez’s health has also posed a major question for Venezuela’s political future. “Francisco Rodríguez, an economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, speculated that Mr. Chávez might propose changing the succession rules,” in order to ensure that he can appoint his successor.
While many are congratulating Venezuela on carrying out “peaceful elections,” the opposition party has expressed grievances. Ramón Guillermo Aveledo, a leader of the opposition coalition that backed Mr. Capriles argues that elections were “clean but not fair because, he said, Mr. Chávez had used vast state resources to promote his campaign.”
