Venezuelan Election Referendum Viable
Venezuela´s Parliament Deputy Speaker Roberto Hernandez asserted Monday that President Hugo Chavez´s suggestion of a referendum over unlimited presidential reelection is legal and democratic.

Hernandez, lawyer and also president of the Preliminary Commission for Electoral Nominations, said the head of state had the right to consult popular opinion.

"It is a democratic, absolutely constitutional and valid procedure" he pointed out and opposed the initiative of old dictatorial regimes imposed without consulting the people.

On his Sunday program Alo Presidente, Chavez said that if the opposition withdraws from the December 3 elections, to make his office illegal, he could call for a referendum.

According to the Constitution, the President of the Republic can only be reelected one time, but since 2005 some have proposed a constitutional reform to establish a limitless reelection.