Term Limits

CARACAS - Venezuela's progovernment National Assembly overwhelmingly approved constitutional revisions yesterday that would greatly expand the power of President Hugo Chávez and permit him to run for reelection indefinitely. The 69 changes to Venezuela's Constitution now go to citizens for a Dec. 2 vote. The proposed changes, Chávez's most radical move in his push to transform Venezuela into a socialist state, threaten to spur a new wave of political upheaval in this oil-rich country deeply divided over Chávez's rule.

MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin, the man who will become Russia's president for a third term next month, indicated Wednesday he would back a law that bars others from doing what he did, ruling as president more than twice. But Putin also suggested such a law would not apply to himself, leaving open the possibility that he could run for a fourth presidential term in 2018. The Russian Constitution now bars a person from being president for more than two consecutive terms. Putin was Russia's president from 2000 to 2008 - in two four-year terms - but had to step down to avoid the issue of...

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg has decided to try to reverse the term-limits law he had long supported so he can seek a third term next year and help the city emerge from financial turmoil, a person close to the mayor who has been briefed on the matter said yesterday. Bloomberg made the decision over the weekend and will announce it tomorrow, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the announcement has not been made. The person said the mayor has been wrestling with the decision for a couple of months.

DAKAR, Senegal - Voters booed Senegal's president as he went to cast his ballot in elections yesterday, the latest sign of how his decision to seek a third term in office has caused his popularity to plummet and divided a country that is often held up as a model of stability and tolerance. The unrest leading to the vote has threatened the reputation of this normally unflappable republic on Africa's western coast as one of the continent's oldest and most mature democracies. In choosing to run again, the 85-year-old President Abdoulaye Wade is contradicting the term limits he...

HAVANA — Fidel Castro apologized yesterday for not making it to a military parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of his victory over CIA-backed exiles at the Bay of Pigs, then praised his brother Raul’s speech proposing major economic changes and term limits for Cuba’s leaders. The 84-year-old revolutionary icon said in an opinion piece that the speech opening the Sixth Party Congress after Saturday’s parade made him proud, a key vote of confidence in the direction his brother, the president, is taking the country.

MINSK, Belarus -- Belarusians overwhelmingly approved a referendum on scrapping presidential term limits, the Central Elections Commission announced today, allowing the authoritarian leader of this former Soviet republic to seek a new term in 2006. Opposition members asserted that the vote yesterday was rigged to allow Alexander Lukashenko, often branded as Europe's last dictator, to stay in power. He has led the nation of 10 million since 1994. Elections commission chairwoman Lidiya Ermoshina announced early today that the preliminary tally of all ballots indicated...

CARACAS - President Hugo Chávez won a referendum to eliminate term limits yesterday, paving the way for him to run again in 2012 - and beyond - and push through his vision of a socialist Venezuela. Fireworks exploded in the sky and caravans of supporters celebrated in the streets, waving red flags and honking horns. With 94 percent of the vote counted, 54 percent had voted in favor of the constitutional amendment, National Electoral Council chief Tibisay Lucena announced.

MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin, the man who will become Russia's president for a third term next month, indicated Wednesday he would back a law that bars others from doing what he did, ruling as president more than twice. But Putin also suggested such a law would not apply to himself, leaving open the possibility that he could run for a fourth presidential term in 2018. The Russian Constitution now bars a person from being president for more than two consecutive terms. Putin was Russia's president from 2000 to 2008 - in two four-year terms - but had to step down...

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - José Joaquin Trejos, who as president of Costa Rica pushed through reforms that prohibited presidential reelection, has died. He was 93. Mr. Trejos, who governed from 1966 to 1970, had no political experience before coming to power, but voters responded to his “clean hands’’ campaign promising to end corruption. Family members said Thursday that Mr. Trejos died of natural causes Wednesday night. One of his biggest legacies was the ban on reelecting a president, a step many Latin American countries have taken to...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Parliament voted to eliminate term limits for the president yesterday, a move critics say could lead to dictatorship. The amendment also will tighten President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hold on power by giving him total control over the judiciary, police, and the civil service. The main opposition group, the United National Party, boycotted the vote and burned an effigy of Rajapaksa at a protest in the capital. But the constitutional amendment passed easily, with 161 votes in the 225-member Parliament.

Amesbury would officially call itself a city, Methuen would drop its term limits rule, and Newburyport would lengthen its mayoral term to four years under proposed charter changes set to go before voters next month. Charter proposals are also on tap in Everett, where voters will consider replacing the city's two-branch legislature with a single body and extending the mayoral term to four years, and in Winthrop, where voters will decide, among other changes, whether to extend the power of the Town Council to confirm appointments.

RE “HARVARD improves governance, but full accountability still lags’’ (Editorial, June 4): While term limits and increased size may help modernize the Harvard Corporation, they are hardly sufficient reforms. Term limits may deter selfish interests from dominating the school’s main governing board, and increased size could lead to more debate and oversight regarding investment decisions. However, full transparency, which is necessary for operational accountability, will still be lacking.

HAVANA — Fidel Castro apologized yesterday for not making it to a military parade celebrating the 50th anniversary of his victory over CIA-backed exiles at the Bay of Pigs, then praised his brother Raul’s speech proposing major economic changes and term limits for Cuba’s leaders. The 84-year-old revolutionary icon said in an opinion piece that the speech opening the Sixth Party Congress after Saturday’s parade made him proud, a key vote of confidence in the direction his brother, the president, is taking the country.

LAS VEGAS — The wife of the mayor of Las Vegas easily topped 17 other candidates in a primary election to replace him as Sin City’s leader, but she didn’t get an outright win. Carolyn Goodman, wife of Oscar Goodman, captured 37 percent of the vote in the crowded field Tuesday, more than double the ballots of her nearest competitors in the race. But she needed more than 50 percent of the vote to become mayor. That was the outcome she had hoped for and had seemed headed toward.

CAIRO — An Egyptian panel tasked with amending the country’s constitution recommended easing restrictions yesterday on who can run for president and imposing presidential term limits — two key demands of the popular uprising that pushed longtime President Hosni Mubarak from power. The eight-member panel also suggested limits on the use of emergency laws — in place in Egypt for 30 years — to a six-month period with the approval of an elected Parliament. Extending the laws beyond that period should be put to a public referendum, the panel said.

ATLANTA — Nathan Deal was sworn in yesterday as Georgia’s 82d governor, ushering in a GOP sweep that will see Republicans take the helm of every statewide office. A rare Georgia snowstorm forced the ceremony from the steps of the Capitol to the shelter of the House chamber. Republicans won every statewide elected office in November’s general election and have also gained seats in the state Legislature, completing a political transformation that began in the state in 2002.

CAIRO — An Egyptian panel tasked with amending the country’s constitution recommended easing restrictions yesterday on who can run for president and imposing presidential term limits — two key demands of the popular uprising that pushed longtime President Hosni Mubarak from power. The eight-member panel also suggested limits on the use of emergency laws — in place in Egypt for 30 years — to a six-month period with the approval of an elected Parliament. Extending the laws beyond that period should be put to a public referendum, the panel said.

NEW YORK - Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced yesterday that he's pushing for changes that would allow him to seek a third term, saying he wants to handle unfinished city business including the "unprecedented challenges" brought on by the financial meltdown. "The question for me has become much less about the theoretical and much more about the practical," the one-time proponent of term limits said at a City Hall news conference. "And so to put it in very practical terms, handling this financial crisis while strengthening the essential services such as...

WASHINGTON — Republicans captured governorships from Democrats in at least seven states yesterday, including some prime presidential battlegrounds, and hoped for even more state house gains. The same tide sweeping Republicans into office in Congress was leaving its mark on governors’ mansions as well, especially in the nation’s industrial heartland. The gubernatorial races were especially important this year. There are a record number of them on the ballot — more than two-thirds of the states.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Parliament voted to eliminate term limits for the president yesterday, a move critics say could lead to dictatorship. The amendment also will tighten President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hold on power by giving him total control over the judiciary, police, and the civil service. The main opposition group, the United National Party, boycotted the vote and burned an effigy of Rajapaksa at a protest in the capital. But the constitutional amendment passed easily, with 161 votes in the 225-member...