President Hugo Chavez has a won a referendum to eliminate term limits, allowing him to run for president again in 2012.

National Electoral Council chief Tibisay Lucena said with 94 per cent of the vote counted, 54 per cent have backed Chavez.

Firecrackers exploded as Chavez supporters circled around Caracas to celebrate the win.

Chavez appeared at his presidential palace to sing the national anthem Sunday night.

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

Chavez, who has already been in power since 1998, has argued the move would allow him to advance his socialist ideals in the country.

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

In a newspaper column, Chavez encouraged his constituents to allow him to run again for re-election when his term runs out in 2013.

"After a 'yes' victory, we can really say with the voice of a united people: The future starts to become ours!" Chavez wrote.

He also said the referendum is a choice between "revolutionary democracy" and a "counterrevolutionary attempt to put on the brakes."

This is not Chavez's first attempt to maintain his grip on power.

In December 2007, he lost a referendum that would also have abolished presidential term limits. Venezuela's constitution currently allows presidents to serve two six-year terms.

Venezuelans are divided on the matter, and the vote was expected to be close.

Fifty-two-year-old Yira Guerra credits Chavez's policies with allowing 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."

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.

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 charge that Chavez controls the National Electoral Council.

With files from The Associated Press