Venezuelan voters narrowly defeated Hugo Chavez’s effort to expand his presidential powers and abolish presidential term limits, the country’s electoral council announced just about an hour ago.

Considering the way Chavez has bullied his opponents, including shutting down a TV station, it’s heartening to see democratically-minded Venezuelans prevail. Of course, Chavez is not one to take “No” for an answer and just go away quietly, so it’ll be interesting to see what he does next.