When the tandemocracy of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev successfully pushed through a constitutional amendment to extend the presidential term from four to six years in just 50 days, the reactions were diverse.  This new bill, along with the legislation to eliminate jury trials, led human rights leader Lev Ponomarev to comment that Medvedev had just officially sacrificed his legal career, and that “Finally, without any questions or suspicions, he becomes an outright shadow of Mr. Putin.”  The editors of Nezavisimaya gazeta floated the theory that the Kremlin pursued this new legislation during the economic crisis because “The very possibility of a new, prolonged presidency for Putin has a disciplinary effect on the Russian elite.“

However, for Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, the reaction to this blisteringly fast and oddly timed alteration of the constitution seemed to be a sense of jealousy.