Manipulating The Election
"All we're asking is that our rights be respected, that the will of the people be respected, and that every single vote be counted, every little piece of paper, that paper isn't for recycling, it's proof."
Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles
According to the official tallies, accepted by Venezuela's election commission which refuses a re-count, Mr. Capriles took 49.1% of the popular vote compared to Hugo Chavez's groomed successor Nicolas Maduro, who garnered 50.7%, representing 235,000 more votes for Mr. Maduro, and proclaiming him the winner and the new president of Venezuela for the next six years.
"We think we won the election. The other side thinks they won and we're both within our rights", said the 40-year-old governor of Venezuela's Miranda state. Strenuously urging voters who cast their votes for him to peacefully object if an agreement to re-count the votes is refused. According to opposition sources their own count of the vote confirms that it was Mr. Capriles who won the presidential election, by over 300,000 votes.
That's quite the disparity. Leading Mr. Capriles to state that until every vote is re-counted, Venezuela has succeeded in electing an "illegitimate president, and we denounce that to the world". One of the five members of the National Electoral Council, independent Viciente Diaz, is on record as backing a full recount, along with the United States and the Organization of American States.
The other four members of the National Electoral Council are known as openly pro-government. When the electoral council's president issued the proclamation that Nicolas Maduro represents the legitimately elected president for the oncoming six years, people stood on their balconies in the capital Caracas, banging pots and pans in protest. As, indeed, Mr. Capriles recommended they do, peacefully.
Not so peaceful were the thousands of students who clashed with National Guard troops arrayed in riot gear, firing tear gas and plastic bullets to emphatically persuade the protesters that they could not continue their march on the city centre. Protests were reported in provincial cities as well, but overall, the country was relatively peaceful.
The Capriles campaign with its "different result" in counting the ballots, claims to have received over 3,200 complaints of voting irregularities. Giving his demand for a ballot re-count impetus. The 235,000 votes that the Maduro camp claims put them over the top to win the presidency, stands out in favour of Mr. Maduro out of 14.8 million votes cast over the entire country.
Senior government officials ridiculed the opposition, praising Venezuela's election system as foolproof. "It's impossible to manipulate the election result", said Jorge Rodriguez, Mr. Maduro's campaign chief on state television.
Labels: Democracy, Human Relations, Venezuela
posted by Pieface @ Tuesday, April 16, 2013
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