The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

William Neuman’s New York Times article reports on the recent re-election victory of President Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Chávez defeated his opponent Henrique Capriles Radonski by a margin of 54 to 45 percent. Though he won definitively, Neuman reports that the margin was narrower than in past elections, and Chávez is now a “politically weakened winner facing an emboldened opposition that grew stronger and more confident as the voting neared, and held out hope that an upset victory was within reach.” Turnout for the vote was more than 80 percent, the highest it has been in decades.

Venezuela’s problems, “including out-of-control violent crime, crumbling roads and bridges, and power blackouts that regularly plague much of the country outside the capital,” have Chávez facing a different country than his previous years in office. His health, as well as his refusal to publicly share details of his cancer, also poses the question of whether he will be able to serve out his new term in full, to the end of 2019.

Though the opposition lost, Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue deemed the election a “‘fundamental turning point,’” because Chávez is “‘going to have to deal with a very different society than he dealt with in his last term, a society that’s awakened and more organized and more confident.’”