"We propose the suspension of Sunday's Vote" -AD-
Foes pull out -- ‘We propose the suspension of’ Sunday’s vote – AD
Acción Democrática (AD), the biggest single opposition party in the National Assembly with 23 seats, pulled the plug on Sunday’s parliamentary vote, sparking speculation President Hugo Chávez’ political foes were about to be plunged into an electoral void. AD Secretary-General Henry Ramos Allup claimed the conditions weren’t right to hold a vote – and he pointed the finger at National Electoral Council (CNE) President Jorge Rodríguez, who was nominated to the council by the government.
Ramos Allup said Rodríguez had not taken sufficient notice of opposition misgivings about the CNE’s handling of the vote for 167 members of the Assembly and a smaller number of seats in the Andean and Latin American Parliaments.
The council, he claimed, had concealed fraud in the Permanent Electoral Register (REP) and in the electronic voting system.
“Under these circumstances, we cannot participate in the electoral process,” said Ramos Allup on Tuesday. ”We propose the suspension of the process next Sunday.”
Three parties who hold thirty-six of the 165 seats in the assembly – two new seats were added to the chamber since the last election – won’t participate in elections unless the CNE can make changes to the system to guarantee voters’ rights.
Proyecto Venezuela, which has seven seats, also withdrew its candidates from the elections. Party founder Henrique Salas Römer blamed the CNE and he, too, called for the election to be put off.
Holding six seats, the Social Christians at Copei – AD’s arch rivals in the days before President Hugo Chávez and his Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) sprang on to the scene – said they were following suit into self-imposed electoral exile.
Pérez Vivas echoed Ramos Allup’s condemnation of the conduct of the electoral process, and the implication that a fair vote could not take place. But there was a subtle difference between AD’s approach to the CNE. The Copei chief urged Rodríguez to think again.
“A profound distrust of the electoral referee has broken out throughout the length and breadth of the country, there is not this fundamental condition to attend on December 4, and for that reason we ask for the vote to be delayed.” The announcements Tuesday came despite Rodríguez’ concession this week that the CNE would remove fingerprint machines at polling stations.
Rodríguez – who makes no secret of his enthusiasm for automated voting rather than the traditional paper ballot – emphasized he was trying to take account of the opposition’s doubts about the machines and the electronic system.
Opposition leaders said the identification system threatened voter confidentiality.
AD’s decision – reached at a meeting on Monday evening – came as something of a surprise, given its earlier statements that abstention would merely hand power to Chávez and his cohorts. Primero Justicia, an opposition party which has vowed to take part in the election, has been making just that point for some time amid a growing clamor for voters to stay away. During the last few days, the call to abstention has been extended to the opposition’s candidates. Copei’s move appeared to catch at least one senior party figure. Even as a meeting of the leadership on Tuesday evening inclined towards taking the party out of the election, Copei President Eduardo Fernández signaled that he didn’t agree. For all the difficulties facing the voters, he argued, abstention was not the way forward towards building a popular majority. Instead, the opposition had to take part in building a democratic majority to defeat Chávez on democratic terrain, he said.
Fernández was already looking increasingly isolated even as his colleagues moved towards their decision. He told reporters Copei should stay in the race.
But there were signs he already realized this was less than likely. “Personally, I consider it a mistake, but Copei’s national committee will take a decision within a few minutes,” he said.
Fernández went on to echo Primero Justicia’s point about giving the whole game away. “One of the direct consequences of the opposition withdrawing is to allow a bigger advance for the dictatorship,” he warned in an allusion to the MVR and its allies in the governing coalition, Bloque de Cambio.
Speculation that a swathe of opposition parties would turn their backs on the vote mounted as a statement by the national leadership of Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) that it would also be turning its back on the election merely highlighted internal party differences.
MAS Deputy Julio Montoya claimed that, for all that people in Caracas might decide, opposition candidates in his home state, Zulia, would still be standing.
Vice President José Vicente Rangel derided AD for running away because it knew it didn’t have any votes.
“They know they’re defeated, that they don’t have the votes,” Rangel said in a speech on the state television station. “Fine, they can go to hell.”
By Jeremy Morgan
Daily Journal Staff
with Reuters and Bloomberg
Acción Democrática (AD), the biggest single opposition party in the National Assembly with 23 seats, pulled the plug on Sunday’s parliamentary vote, sparking speculation President Hugo Chávez’ political foes were about to be plunged into an electoral void. AD Secretary-General Henry Ramos Allup claimed the conditions weren’t right to hold a vote – and he pointed the finger at National Electoral Council (CNE) President Jorge Rodríguez, who was nominated to the council by the government.
Ramos Allup said Rodríguez had not taken sufficient notice of opposition misgivings about the CNE’s handling of the vote for 167 members of the Assembly and a smaller number of seats in the Andean and Latin American Parliaments. The council, he claimed, had concealed fraud in the Permanent Electoral Register (REP) and in the electronic voting system.
“Under these circumstances, we cannot participate in the electoral process,” said Ramos Allup on Tuesday. ”We propose the suspension of the process next Sunday.”
Three parties who hold thirty-six of the 165 seats in the assembly – two new seats were added to the chamber since the last election – won’t participate in elections unless the CNE can make changes to the system to guarantee voters’ rights.
Proyecto Venezuela, which has seven seats, also withdrew its candidates from the elections. Party founder Henrique Salas Römer blamed the CNE and he, too, called for the election to be put off.
Holding six seats, the Social Christians at Copei – AD’s arch rivals in the days before President Hugo Chávez and his Fifth Republic Movement (MVR) sprang on to the scene – said they were following suit into self-imposed electoral exile.
Pérez Vivas echoed Ramos Allup’s condemnation of the conduct of the electoral process, and the implication that a fair vote could not take place. But there was a subtle difference between AD’s approach to the CNE. The Copei chief urged Rodríguez to think again.
“A profound distrust of the electoral referee has broken out throughout the length and breadth of the country, there is not this fundamental condition to attend on December 4, and for that reason we ask for the vote to be delayed.” The announcements Tuesday came despite Rodríguez’ concession this week that the CNE would remove fingerprint machines at polling stations.
Rodríguez – who makes no secret of his enthusiasm for automated voting rather than the traditional paper ballot – emphasized he was trying to take account of the opposition’s doubts about the machines and the electronic system.
Opposition leaders said the identification system threatened voter confidentiality.
AD’s decision – reached at a meeting on Monday evening – came as something of a surprise, given its earlier statements that abstention would merely hand power to Chávez and his cohorts. Primero Justicia, an opposition party which has vowed to take part in the election, has been making just that point for some time amid a growing clamor for voters to stay away. During the last few days, the call to abstention has been extended to the opposition’s candidates. Copei’s move appeared to catch at least one senior party figure. Even as a meeting of the leadership on Tuesday evening inclined towards taking the party out of the election, Copei President Eduardo Fernández signaled that he didn’t agree. For all the difficulties facing the voters, he argued, abstention was not the way forward towards building a popular majority. Instead, the opposition had to take part in building a democratic majority to defeat Chávez on democratic terrain, he said.
Fernández was already looking increasingly isolated even as his colleagues moved towards their decision. He told reporters Copei should stay in the race.
But there were signs he already realized this was less than likely. “Personally, I consider it a mistake, but Copei’s national committee will take a decision within a few minutes,” he said.
Fernández went on to echo Primero Justicia’s point about giving the whole game away. “One of the direct consequences of the opposition withdrawing is to allow a bigger advance for the dictatorship,” he warned in an allusion to the MVR and its allies in the governing coalition, Bloque de Cambio.
Speculation that a swathe of opposition parties would turn their backs on the vote mounted as a statement by the national leadership of Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) that it would also be turning its back on the election merely highlighted internal party differences.
MAS Deputy Julio Montoya claimed that, for all that people in Caracas might decide, opposition candidates in his home state, Zulia, would still be standing.
Vice President José Vicente Rangel derided AD for running away because it knew it didn’t have any votes.
“They know they’re defeated, that they don’t have the votes,” Rangel said in a speech on the state television station. “Fine, they can go to hell.”
By Jeremy Morgan
Daily Journal Staff
with Reuters and Bloomberg
