President Hugo Chavez says this weekend's referendum victory that removed limits on his re-election is a mandate from the Venezuelan people to intensify his socialist agenda.

But opponents warn the country is moving further into a full dictatorship.

Electoral authorities said Sunday that 54 per cent of voters approved a constitutional amendment to allow all public officials to run for re-election as many times as they want.

The change removes barriers to letting Chavez run in the next presidential elections in 2012, allowing him to stay in office until he is defeated at the polls. His current term ends in 2013.

Chavez, 54, who has already been in power since 1998, had argued the constitutional changes would allow him to advance his socialist ideals in the country, fight crime and corruption and resist U.S. influence in the region.

He claimed he needs at least another decade to finalize Venezuela's transition to socialism.

"Those who voted 'yes' today voted for socialism, for revolution," Chavez told thousands of ecstatic supporters jamming the streets around the presidential palace Sunday.

"In 2012 there will be presidential elections, and unless God decides otherwise, unless the people decide otherwise, this soldier is already a candidate," Chavez said to applause.

"Today, we opened wide the gates of the future. Venezuela will not return to its past of indignity."

Chavez's opponents see him as a power-hungry autocrat who is bent on turning Venezuela into a replica of communist Cuba. They say he unfairly has used state revenue to finance his campaigns with huge rallies and constant TV appearances.

"Today, Goliath won," opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez said.

The referendum deeply divided the country.

Fifty-two-year-old Yira Guerra suggested she supported Chavez because she believes his policies allowed her two children to get a free college education.

"My son got a bachelor's degree," Guerra said, adding that such social programs would disappear if another leader took power.

However, 50-year-old Carmen Gilarte charged that longer presidential terms breed corruption.

"We don't want anybody to stay perpetually in power," Gilarte said. "We have to give opportunities to the next generation."

Chavez dismissed the concerns, saying former U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt was elected four times.

"Ten years is nothing. I don't know what they're complaining about."

Opposition parties boycotted the 2005 congressional elections, giving Chavez a stranglehold on the National Assembly and allowing him to pack the Supreme Court with his allies. Critics also note that Chavez effectively controls the National Electoral Council.

Chavez has remained a popular leader by using vast oil revenues to boost social programs, such as literacy classes and benefits for single mothers. He has also cultivated closer relationships with American adversaries, such as Cuba and Iran.

But his opponents argue that if he is allowed to remain in power for another 10 years, checks on his authority will continue to erode.

"Effectively this will become a dictatorship," opposition leader Omar Barboza told The Associated Press.

"It's control of all the powers, lack of separation of powers, unscrupulous use of state resources, persecution of adversaries."

With files from the Associated Press