[....]
>University students helped galvanize voter disenchantment. Their
>street demonstrations helped rally the vote to deliver Chavez's
>first electoral defeat, by the narrowest of margins, after his
>nearly nine years in office.
[....]
>Student opposition grew after Nov. 2, when details of the reform
>package revealed that Chavez wanted to change the way university
>rectors were elected, which students saw as a threat to university
>autonomy. Had the reforms passed, blue-collar university employees
>would have been able to vote on university rectors, a decision now
>reserved for faculty and students.
[....]