PoliticsVenezuela: Opposition gains: Prez Chavez's stooges in parliament shaken

BBC reports early results of Venezuela's parliamentary elections (Sept27,2k10):

Chavez foes advance in election

There were broad smiles among members of the opposition MUD as the results were announced.

The Venezuelan opposition has performed well in elections, overturning President Hugo Chavez's two-thirds majority in parliament.

Mr Chavez's United Socialist Party (PSUV) still won a majority of seats in Sunday's poll, but will now be unable to pass major legislation unaided.

The poll was seen as a test of Mr Chavez's popularity ahead of presidential elections in 2012.
An opposition spokesman said he was "very happy" with the results.

The opposition umbrella group he represents, the Table for Democratic Unity (MUD), will now become an important bloc in the parliament, says the BBC's Will Grant in Caracas.

It will be capable of thwarting some of Mr Chavez's key socialist reforms, be they appointments to the Supreme Court or backing for sweeping new laws.

It seems Mr Chavez will now have to find some way to work with the opposition representatives in parliament, our correspondent adds.

Apparently, the vote curtails the PSUV's previously overwhelming majority (anti-Chavez parties boycotted the last election, thank God they did not this time around!). Chavez can no longer be so blatantly and unrestrainedly a super-majoritarian triumphalist.

-- Politicarp