Politics The chair of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, Sunday announced that 54.36 percent of voters (6,003,594 people) endorsed President Hugo Chávez's proposal to amend the Constitution in order to establish endless reelection of all elected officials, while 45.63 percent of Venezuelans (5,040,082 people) rejected the amendment.

According to Lucena, the first official bulletin accounts for 94.2 percent of balloting stations, and there are 2,151 tally sheets to be counted. They amount to 826,250 voters, or 4.93 percent. "The number of voters who took part in the election was 11,242,717."

The number of valid ballots was 11,043,676, with 199,041 invalid ballots. Relative abstention was 32.95 percent, according to the figures provided by Lucena.

She thanked CNE officials, poll workers, witnesses, and foreign observers for working so hard and for the achievements made in the election day.