Oil's what matters

27 September 2010 By Martin Hutchinson

The opposition victory in Sept. 26 elections gives Hugo Chavez international credibility, but does not restrict his power much. If oil prices hold up, he will have the cash to keep his form of Bolivarian socialism alive and the power to win 2012 s presidential election to boot.

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In Venezuela's Assembly elections on Sept. 26, Hugo Chavez's Socialist party took 94 of 165 seats, while the opposition Democratic Unity party took 60 and other forces five, with six seats still to be declared. The Democratic Unity is believed to have won 52 percent of the vote, but the Socialists were stronger in rural areas. Chavez however remains close to the threefifths of the seats that would give him special decree powers by which he could bypass the Assembly.

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