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Justin Podur's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/justinpodur
Bio: Justin Podur is a writer and editor for ZNet (www.zmag.org), part of Z Communications, an alternative media organization dedicated to political analysis and support for movements for social change.... (More)

All Podur Blogs

Venezuela: Chavez wins, the opposition doesn´t respect the victory

By Justin Podur at Aug 16, 2004


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President Carraquero of the National Electoral Council announced the preliminary result as of 3:47 am just now (4:10am) with between 94-96% of the results in. The result: 58% NO (4 991 483 million votes) and 42% SI (3 576 517 million votes). In other words, it´s all over, right? It should be. The Electoral Council, which was perfectly good for everyone involved until now, is no longer good enough for the opposition. They announced just before the preliminary results that they would not accept the results. And now, as folks have said before, all depends on the Carter Center and the OAS. These groups are in frantic negotiations with the Coordinadora Democratica (opposition) right now. Rumour (I´ll confirm as soon as possible) is that Carter and Gaviria of the OAS are fighting. Carter apparently thinks that the vote ought to be accepted. Gaviria believes that some kind of "solution" should be sought in spite of the clear vote. I am having trouble believing in Carter´s insistence on democracy, but for argument´s sake let´s accept that that´s what´s going on. If that is what´s going on, and if Gaviria and the opposition have their way, it will be an abhorrent message from the world to Venezuelans, that they are on their own in trying to defend their democracy and that international bodies have no credibility to tell them anything. This could end up to be the case. But since we waited so many hours for the people to speak, we ought to give these groups a chance to save a minimum of credibility for themselves as well. UPDATE (5:35am). In case anyone was worried that the opposition was going to do the right thing and respect the Venezuelan vote, Henry Ramos Allup dispelled that notion dramatically this morning in a televised press conference. According to the Coordinadora Democratica´s own figures (not really sure how they were collected, but some way far more reliable than the double-system of the machines), of 8 million votes counted, SI had 59% and NO 40.6%. Ramos said they would be spending today (Monday) gathering evidence to present to the international community. This claim, without evidence like virtually every other claim of the opposition, gives the Carter Center, OAS, and international press a real choice. Will they respect the vote of the Venezuelans and their electoral authorities, which they have been praising all day, or will they opt for sleazy, evidence-free claims that are designed to sow chaos and undermine progress? I wish I wasn´t so sure of the answer. (UPDATE: I was wrong! Not for the first time, about Venezuela. Carter and Gaviria stated clearly at a press conference at 1:30pm that they found NO EVIDENCE of fraud (and it was pretty clear Gaviria wanted to find evidence). So, there you have it. Much clearer than I thought.)
Person

Re: Venezuela: Chavez wins, the opposition doesn´t respect the victory

By Briansouter, Briansouter at Aug 19, 2004 10:18 AM

why doesnt opposition respect the victory. Maybe it has to do with exit polls? U.S. Poll Firm in Hot Water in Venezuela U.S. Polling Firm Lands in Middle of Venezuela Referendum Dispute After Predicting Wrong Outcome CARACAS, Venezuela Aug. 19, 2004 — A U.S. firm's exit poll that said President Hugo Chavez would lose a recall referendum has landed in the center of a controversy following his resounding victory. "Exit Poll Results Show Major Defeat for Chavez," the survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, asserted even as Sunday's voting was still on. But in fact, the opposite was true Chavez ended up trouncing his enemies and capturing 59 percent of the vote. Any casual observer of the 2000 U.S. presidential elections knows exit polls can at times be unreliable. But the poll has become an issue here because the opposition, which mounted the drive to force the leftist leader from office, insists it shows the results from the vote itself were fraudulent. etc(go to link) http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/ap20040819_91.html#

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Person

By Barbs182y, Barbs at Aug 18, 2004 04:19 AM

I'm not so sure you were wrong about Carter and the OAS. "The audit came at the request of the OAS and Carter Center, the OAS official said. Earlier Tuesday, OAS Secretary-General Cesar Gaviria said an audit would help calm the country."

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