Venezuela gave backers of democracy good news in its election last week. As the price of oil has plunged since late summer, so has the ability of semi-dictator Huge Chavez to control events in that petro-state. With economic distress rising, the narcissistic (even by celebrity standards) leader’s wings have surely been clipped.

New England, of course, gets much of its heating oil from Venezuela.

The president went some distance in trying to illegally squash the opposition in local elections. In spite of that, voters chose foes of Mr. Chavez for five of the six most important positions in the country — after the caudillo himself — including governorships of three of the five largest states and the governments of Caracas and Maracaibo, the two biggest cities. This came in the face of Mr. Chavez’s banning opposition leaders from running in some places, including Caracas; threatening to send out tanks in places where the opposition was strong; and threatening to arrest opposition candidates.

Last December, voters rejected Mr. Chavez’s bid to serve unlimited terms. It seems clear that they much prefer democracy over what their president has in mind.

That Mr. Chavez backed down from the worst of his threats and apparently will let the election results stand is happy news. He is not yet willing to do what it takes, apparently, to become a full-fledged dictator.

In any event, more and more Venezuelans realize that a regime based on a cult of personality and social and economic programs built on high oil prices is not a healthy long-term deal for the country. And with the world economy shrinking, it’s unlikely that President Chavez will be able to buy support (or Russian weapons) nearly as easily in the next couple of years as he has in the past few. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin may find himself in a similar boat with his petro-state soon.

Still, Hugo Chavez has four years to go in office, and many opportunities to give himself the sort of powers that his hero, Fidel Castro, got himself. This is a man, after all, who lives on power and publicity.

Let us hope that members of the newly energized opposition not only conduct themselves with drive and ingenuity in presenting plausible alternatives to Mr. Chavez’s statist vision, but also display the democratic decorum they need to maintain their credibility at home and abroad.