The following are editorial opinions from newspapers from around the world which may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers.

South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Hugo Chavez:

If nothing else, the rebuke that Hugo Chavez suffered at the polls this Sunday should at least cool his charge toward a socialist state.

The Venezuelan president sought sweeping constitutional changes that would have given him great power to muzzle dissent, seize private property and allow him to rule in perpetuity. Venezuelans smartly rejected the plan, by a slim margin, and the rest of the hemisphere can breathe easily at least for the moment. ...

In the aftermath of the vote, Chavez has reached a political crossroad. He can seek other ways to run roughshod over the opposition and continue dividing the country, or he can acknowledge his limits and compromise with an emboldened and far less fractured opposition.

Venezuela, and the hemisphere, would be better served if Chavez pretended less to be like Castro and more like a statesman.

Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo,– on Russia's election results:

Democracy may take distinct forms suitable to individual countries. However, the election for the Russian State Duma (lower house) held Sunday made us wonder whether Russia is really a democracy. United Russia, the ruling party of President Vladimir Putin, scored a landslide victory by garnering two-thirds of the contested seats. As expected, the outcome showed that policies advocated by Putin were supported by the public. ...

There is much speculation about what Putin plans to do next. For example, some people say that since the Russian Constitution bans presidents from serving three consecutive terms, he will step down from the presidency in his second term now and run again in the upcoming presidential election slated for next spring. Others speculate that he plans to hold on to power by serving as speaker of the lower house or as prime minister. ...

In many ways, in today's Russia, various interests and forces that struggle for power are maintaining a balance because Putin is at the top. Even at the cost of distorting democracy to some extent, why not keep Putin's influence and maintain order? Perhaps such thinking is shared by the various forces that support the current regime.

A continuation of Putin's regime without restraints of terms of public office and elections will almost amount to having a "dynasty." Even for the Russian-style system, it would be a far cry from democracy.