A constitutional referendum was held in Venezuela on December 2, 2007 to amend 69 articles of the 1999 Constitution. Reform was needed, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to implement his socialist agenda; detractors said he was using the reforms to become a dictator.
The referendum was narrowly defeated, giving Chavez the first election loss of his nine-year presidency. University student protests and opposition from former allies helped fuel the defeat, but the referendum results and the 44% abstention rate suggest that support also waned among Chavez's traditional base of Venezuela's poor. Chavez conceded defeat by saying "for now, we couldn't" ("por ahora no pudimos"), echoing the phrase he used after the failure of the 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts.
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