Venezuela expells MEP for criticising Chavez

Venezuela expelled a member of the European Parliament from the country over the weekend for calling President Hugo Chavez a "dictator" ahead of a Sunday referendum on removing term limits for elected officials.

Luis Herrero, a Spanish MEP from the right-wing Popular Party, was asked by the National Electoral Council to leave "to preserve the peace and guarantee the election's normal development," according to a statement from the Venezuelan foreign ministry, which added that the lawmaker was on a commercial flight to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

In comments to journalists, Mr Herrero had earlier called on Venezuelans to vote freely.

"They should never be carried away when they vote by the fear that a dictator tries to impose in a premeditated way," the Spanish MEP said.

A local opposition party had invited the European lawmaker along with four other colleagues to observe the vote on a constitutional change lifting term limits.

Historically in the Western hemisphere, most countries have included limits on the number of terms officials can run for office.

However, in recent years, there has been a wave of nations governed by both the left and the right attempting to removing such restrictions, including Colombia, Ecuador and Nicaragua.

The centre-right president of the EU Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, stated that the expulsion showed "a lack of respect for democratic institutions."

Mr Herrero and his colleagues were standing at the entrance to their Caracas hotel when members of the DISIP, the country's intelligence service, arrived with an expulsion order, Spanish news agency EFE said.

Mr Poettering said that in addition to being unjustifiable, the expulsion was carried out in a way that "lacked respect for human dignity."

"It is unacceptable that in a country such as Venezuela somebody could be detained and expelled for freely expressing his opinion," Mr Poettering said in a statement. "Freedom of speech is one of the basics of democracy under the rule of law," he added.

His remarks were echoed by the leader of the European conservatives in the parliament, Joseph Daul, who said he saw in the forced expulsion a confirmation of the undemocratic tendencies of the Chavez government.

"This shows that Hugo Chavez and his family do not want witnesses to what may happen in a referendum which, as everyone knows, is designed to reform the constitution to allow him to remain indefinitely in power", declared Joseph Daul.

Endless mandates for 'socialist revolution'

With 94 percent of the vote counted, 54 percent had voted for the constitutional amendment, the country's electoral council chief Tibisay Lucena said. Forty-six percent had voted against it, a trend she called irreversible. She said turnout was 67 percent.

"Those who voted 'yes' today voted for socialism, for revolution," Mr Chavez said on Sunday evening. He called the victory a mandate to speed his transformation of Venezuela into a socialist state.

"Today we opened wide the gates of the future," he said. "In 2012, there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate."

Several opposition leaders said they wouldn't contest the vote. "We're democrats. We accept the results," said opposition leader Omar Barboza.

But they said the results were skewed by Mr Chavez's broad use of state resources to get out the vote, through the public news media, pressure on 2 million public employees and frequent presidential speeches that all television stations were required to air.

Private media meanwhile, are largely allied with the right-wing opposition, and supported the unsuccessful allegedly US-backed coup against the country's leader in 2002.