2007: President Chavez Lost an Election to Amend the Constitution On August 15, 2007, President Chavez proposed amending 33 articles of Venezuela’s 350-article 1999 Constitution. The proposed constitutional reforms were needed, according to Chavez, to complete the transition to a “socialist republic.” [4] To reform the Constitution, Venezuela’s constitutional procedures require three debates before the National Assembly. The first two debates were held on August 21 and September 11, 2007. The third debate was on October 25, 2007 and the National Assembly approved the proposal, enlarged from 33 articles to 69. Final parliamentary approval for the referendum was given on November 2, 2007. The National Assembly sent the proposed amendments to the Electoral Council to arrange for a national referendum. The Electoral Council set December 2, 2007 for the National Referendum. The CNE divided the 69 amendments into two packets (A&B) for voting. The CNE arranged for four televise...