President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela postponed celebrations yesterday following a victorious Yes vote in a referendum on a new constitution, as torrential rains continued to pound the country, leaving 52 people dead in Caracas, hundreds injured and 120,000 more homeless.
A state of emergency was declared, schools and businesses were closed, people were advised to stay indoors and troops rushed to affected areas, evacuating entire villages under threat. "There is nothing to celebrate and only hard work ahead," announced a sombre President Chavez, whose planned visit to flooded areas was suspended when his helicopter failed to take off.
A final referendum result has yet to be announced, but with 82 per cent of votes tallied, the Yes vote had secured 71 per cent of preferences, just under three million votes. The No vote attracted 1.1 million preferences while 55 per cent of voters stayed away.
The National Constitutional Assembly (ANC), which wrote the new charter, will meet today to dissolve Congress formally and announce general elections for next February. Mr Chavez has put his job up for grabs, as part of the renewal of state institutions. The new constitution has abolished the Senate, leaving just one chamber of deputies to approve legislation. "Now that the campaign is over," said Archbishop Hernan Sanchez Porra, "there can be neither victors nor defeated, just Venezuelans." He was referring to the bitter campaign debate.
The polarisation of opinion over the constitution ran directly along class lines, as evidenced by a poll published yesterday in the daily El Universal. In the upper class country club neighbourhood, the Yes vote won just 18 per cent of preferences: in the middle-class John Paul II district, 44 per cent voted yes to the constitutional project; in the working-class Katia district a massive 84 per cent of voters were in favour of the constitution.
The National Business Council, Fed Camara, which resolutely opposed the new constitution, praised the continuing political process as "the end of the imposition of political parties" and the beginning of "an emerging civil society which participates in decision-making".