Venezuelan constitutional referendum, 2009

The 2009 referendum was a vote in which the citizens of Venezuela approved Amendment No. 1 (Enmienda No. 1) of the Constitution of Venezuela; this abolished term limits for the offices of President, state governors, mayors and National Assembly deputies.

The current constitution, enacted in 1999 by referendum, previously established a three-term limit for deputies and a two-term limit for the other offices. The proposed amendment was put to a referendum on 15 February 2009 and endorsed by 54% of the electorate, with approximately 70% of registered voters participating.

A proposal for an important change in the main structure of the Constitution, that included abolishing presidential term limits among major social, economical and political changes was rejected in 2007 when university students led protests and played a critical role in the result;President Hugo Chávez had said the reform was needed to implement his socialist program. Chávez conceded defeat by saying "for now, we couldn't" ("por ahora no pudimos"), echoing the phrase he used after the failure of his February 1992 attempted coup d'état against the Carlos Andrés Pérez government.

On 30 November 2008, six days after regional elections, Hugo Chávez announced on television that he would be open to a new wave of discussion on the proposal for allowing the postulation without limits to presidential candidature. The following day, his supporters started working towards a constitutional amendment for this goal.

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