Chavez looks to new vote

In this image released by Venezuela's Miraflores Press,Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez talk to members of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Caracas, Saturday, Jan. 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press)

CARACAS, Venezuela—President Hugo Chavez is again raising the idea of running for re-election in 2012 -- suggesting supporters launch a drive to remove constitutional barriers.

A month after losing a similar referendum, Chavez said in a televised speech Saturday night that he wouldn't make the proposal himself this time, but would leave it to supporters. Voters on Dec. 2 rejected constitutional changes that would have expanded his powers, pushed the economy toward socialism and let him run for re-election indefinitely.

"You know that the people also have in their hands the possibility to initiate a political referendum," Chavez told red-clad members of his socialist party. "I'll leave that to you. It's not up to me now. I played and I lost."

Barred from seeking another six-year term under the current constitution, Chavez said: "As of now I'll be leaving on Feb. 2, 2013. Well, that's what is foreseen."

The crowd responded with chants of "The people, united, can never be defeated" and "Ooh-Ah! Chavez isn't going anywhere!" -- phrases that rhyme in Spanish

"Let's suppose the party and the people launch an initiative for an amendment. ... The only thing I ask you is that we don't do it now -- not this year. We have to remake the game," Chavez said.

Chavez, who was first elected in 1998, has called his loss in December a strategic error, saying it wasn't the right movement for such sweeping changes.

In a speech Friday, he suggested that a referendum could be held in 2010 to ask Venezuelans whether they support "a little amendment" to end presidential term limits.

Chavez's opponents accuse him of concentrating power in his own hands and threatening democracy. He said that any referendum could also ask voters to decide whether the president should be recalled or stay on.

As he conceded defeat last month, Chavez echoed the words he spoke when captured leading a failed 1992 coup: "For now, we couldn't."

And since the vote, pro-Chavez billboards have gone up bearing a simple, resolute message: "FOR NOW..."