(6 Dec 2007)
1. Wide of Chavez supporters cheering and listening to him speak
2. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela:
"One thing is your shouting and another is the reality. The reforms did not get passed, so I will have to leave power in 2013. I will work around the clock; until the very last day I have left here, I will work relentlessly."
3. Wide of Chavez supporters listening to his speech
STORYLINE:
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday blamed his followers for the electoral defeat on Sunday and branded as "cowards" and "wimps" those that did not turn out to vote.
He warned that "for now" he would have to leave power in 2013.
As a response to a closed public ovation, in his first public appearance after the referendum, the sovereign took a jab at his followers.
"One thing is your shouting and another is the reality. The reforms did not get passed, so I will have to leave power in 2013. I will work around the clock; until the very last day I have left here, I will work relentlessly," Chavez said.
In his speech the 53-year-old Chavez said, since "you did not approve the referendum, I have to go".
His third term concludes in January of 2013, and with the electoral defeat he has also lost his chance to once again advance his candidature in 2012 and on future occasions.
Chavez's defeat on Sunday was his first electoral defeat since 1999 when a narrow majority rejected the constitutional reform that proposed re-election for an indefinite period of time and the extension of the mandate from 6 to 7 years.
The sovereign criticised some of his followers who said that they did not vote because they did not like the mayor or the governor. "Those are the excuses of the weak, of the cowards and of the wimps", Chavez said.
The electoral authority reported a 44 per cent abstention in the referendum.
Barely a year ago, Chavez overwhelmingly won the presidential election with 7.16 (m) million votes.
In the referendum, the 'Si' votes numbered 4.3 (m) million and the opposition, on the other hand, increased its electoral capital by some 300-thousand votes totalling more than 4.5 (m) million votes.
Chavez said that he will insist on advancing the reforms. The President suggested that the National Assembly or its supporters once again take up his proposal but in a "more simplified form". He suggested that "if they collect signatures, that reform can again be submitted" to the referendum.
The amendment also had as its objective to give Chavez powers to draw up new territorial divisions and to appoint officials at the head of new provinces and cities.
It also favoured collective property over private property and revoked a constitutional norm that prohibits detention of citizens without charging them during emergency rule. It also gave the state authorisation to occupy properties before the definitive sentence from a judicial expropriation process could be obtained.
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