Ahead on surprise outcome to Venezuela election

Reuters was well ahead of competitors on Venezuela’s legislative elections on Sept 26, being first to tell clients the opposition alliance was on track to win more than one third of seats. Eventually the anti-Chavez parties won 40 percent of the seats in the National Assembly and nearly half of the popular vote, a blow to socialist President Hugo Chavez two years before he seeks re-election since Chavez’s Socialist Party, which had completely controlled the legislature in recent years, will now need to seek support to pass major reforms. While election results trickled in slowly, our strong sources from the government, the opposition and the election authority allowed us to track the outcome in real time. Pre- and post-election coverage was really strong, including an excellent special report on Venezuela’s opposition parties becoming more organized and effective after years of disarray.