Chavez's opponents at home were more cutting.

The opposition accuses Chavez of being a tyrant in the making, taking a slow-burning approach to following Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Chavez argues he will always tolerate opposition and will step down if he loses an election.

Julio Borges, leader of an opposition party Primero Justicia, said he found the vote worrying.

"Unfortunately, what I think we are going to see in the next 18 months is a still greater separation between power and the Venezuelan people," he said.

Opposition politician and newspaper editor Teodoro Petkoff wrote in Wednesday's Tal Cual: "The enabling law is designed to consolidate and reinforce the autocracy that has been developing for eight years."

Hernandez, of the Venezuelan Communist Party, rebuffed such charges.

"When our enemies say we are granting dictatorial powers to Chavez, they know that they are lying," he said.

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