DOMESTIC POLITICS

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Caracas, Venezuela - In what observers are calling "the freest election in Venezuelan history," Hugo Chavez was elected president of the United States on Tuesday. With 99% of the votes counted, Chavez leads his closest opponent, Cesar Chavez, by over eleven million votes.

"Cesar Chavez hasn’t been politically active in decades," notes Professor Elaine Kamarck, a faculty member of the Kennedy School of Government. "He polled strongly, but the deceased always lose 10 to 15 points on Election Day."

Hugo Chavez campaigned on a pro-Venezuela platform, a stance popular in Venezuela. Though he ran as an independent, he was endorsed by the Republican Party of Mississippi and the Facebook group 4,000,000 Strong for Dictatorship. Earlier this year, the Venezuelan Congress approved a Constitutional amendment waiving the requirement that the United States president be a native-born American and that he be elected by citizens of the United States.  HSP