Historians of the last century will note that one party — the Democrats — solidly controlled Congress, with only passing interruptions, for more than six decades, through recessions and wars and other challenges.
And of the valid votes, the Concertacion saw its share fall to 50.5%, five points lower than in 1993.With 70 seats, the government still solidly controls the 120-seat lower house.
Chavez, who will be sworn in Wednesday to a third term that runs until 2013, also said he wanted a constitutional amendment to strip the Central Bank of its autonomy and would soon ask the National Assembly, solidly controlled by his allies, to approve "a set of revolutionary laws" by presidential decree.
Democrats will need all the support they can get and not because they can't get the votes to pass some sort of health care bill (the party solidly controls both chambers).
More importantly, however, is the situation in Scotland, which is solidly controlled by the Scottish National Party SNPP), which has always campaigned for an independent Scotland within the EU.
In the House, on the other hand, Republicans are solidly in control.
The move puts the governor solidly in control of the party a year before his re-election campaign.
Inflation, for instance, has remained solidly under control — the economy's core inflation rate was about two per cent over the past twelve months, and it hasn't been much higher than that in recent years.
Economists said any inflationary pressures remained solidly under control and in any case were not the focus of the Federal Reserve, which is bent on staving off recession with rate cuts.
The America One skipper Paul Cayard and his crew, who had taken charge of the race on the second leg with a ruthless display of match racing, were solidly in control through most of the second half of the 18.5-mile course and held a 37-second lead as the boats entered the last downwind leg.
