Venezuela's Election System Holds Up As A Model For The World

[Catherina]

Venezuela's Election System Holds Up As A Model For The World

This article is by Eugenio Martinez, who covers elections for Venezuela’s newspaper El Universal and is the host of the weekly TV show El Termómetro.

5/14/2013

...the slim margin propelled Capriles on a quest for lost votes, a crusade to prove electoral irregularities and cast doubt on the outcome. This campaign has exposed deep political rifts among our citizens when it is essential that the people of Venezuela have the greatest confidence in the election process.

Venezuela employs one of the most technologically advanced verifiable voting systems in the world, designed to protect voters from fraud and tampering and ensure the accuracy of the vote count. Accuracy and integrity are guaranteed from the minute voters walk into the polls to the point where a final tally is revealed.

The system Venezuela uses has some of the most advanced and voter-friendly security features in modern elections. Voters use a touch-sensitive electronic pad to make and confirm their choices. After confirmation, the electronic vote is encrypted and randomly stored in the machine’s memories. Voters audit their own vote by reviewing a printed receipt that they then place into a physical ballot box.

...

By mutual agreement between the contenders, 52.98% of the ballot boxes are chosen at random, opened, and their tallies compared with the corresponding precinct counts. This audit step ensures that no vote manipulation has occurred at the polling place. The extent of this audit, the widest in automatic elections, leaves little room for questioning.

...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2013/05/14/venezuelas-election-system-holds-up-as-a-model-for-the-world/

[Judi Lynn]

1. It's a shocker seeing El Universo/Forbes actually acknowledge that much, isn't it?

It's probably a freak of nature! The writer may be fired.

[Catherina]

3. A pleasant shocker but it's not the first message to Capriles that he lost and to get over it

MUD Deputies have told him so, his own campaign advisor admitted it, everyone damn well knows it, especially Capriles who peddles a new delusion every week.

By the way, did you see this video of our friend Corina in Colombia, re-sporting a bandage on her nose, as she dramatized her embroidered interpretation of the fight the opposition caused, to convince their Congress to back them? She was pwned very politely by a member of the Colombian opposition who basically told her story didn't rise to the level of persecution:

What she sang Maria Corina Machado in Bogota
Monday, 5/13/2013

Last Wednesday (May 8), Venezuelan deputy María Corina Machado was allowed to speak in the Colombian Senate. Very dramatically, she told her version of what happened during the brawl in the National Assembly, which was provoked by right-wing deputies, and how the parliamentary president, Diosdado Cabello, refused them the right to speak for not recognizing the president of the Republic, Nicolás Maduro.

During her talk, presented with bandages on her nose to show how democracy is under attack in Venezuela, Alexander López Maya, a Senator from the Polo Democrático Alternativo party told her what a real attack on democracy looked like and educated her with the tragic history of political assassinations in Colombia.

...

Secondly, Deputy Corina, neither do we share the belief that differences and discussions can be resolved by physical aggression. We regret what took place, and we wish that this had not happened to you and your eight companions. We are the opposition here in Colombia and, luckily, that's all that happened to you. I want to tell you, Dr. Corina, that we, since our first days as leftists, we had four of our presidential candidates assassinated. The politics of this country assassinated our entire political movement, the Patriotic Union, more than 3000 political directors, senators, representatives — assassinated, Dr. Corina, totally wiped out by the politics of this country. Today we, who represent the left in this country, had the previous government intercepting not only our mail, but our telephone calls.

The previous government persecuted us all the time. I and several of my comrades were victims of set-ups (productions) organized by the Army in this country. From that democracy my colleagues speak of, sprung a director of the DAS, named by President Uribe, who handed over lists of union leaders to the paramilitary groups so that they would be assassinated, and from that same democracy they speak of here, thousands of Colombians were assassinated. Some, not all, were members of the Security Force. In this democracy you speak of, the Labor Movement has minimal rights, minimal guarantees, and every day, labor rights are violated here.

...

http://www.aporrea.org/internacionales/n228729.html

[Marksman_91]

2. The "greatest electoral system in the world" doesn't include full recounts upon request, though

So that's something I'm hoping they fix up soon.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Nope, I'm not going to let you get away with that.

I considered ignoring you because of your invariable support of rightwingers and fascists and invariable slandering, distortions, lies and propaganda against leftists.

But elections are too important a matter to let this BS of yours stand, about Venezuela's election system, especially here at DU, which became a major forum for election reform.

1. A 100% recount is not necessary in an electronic system with paper ballots, that does an automatic audit (comparison of ballots to electronic totals) of from 52% to 55%, more than five times the audit needed to detect fraud in an electronic system.

Know what the automatic audit is in OUR electronic systems? For the sake those who care: Half the states in the U.S. DO NO AUDIT AT ALL (because they have no ballot TO audit with) and the other half do a miserably inadequate 1% audit. In the case of half the states in the U.S., "recounts" are a joke. They merely regurgitate the numbers produced by ES&S/Diebold (which has a 75% monopoly on U.S. voting systems, all run on 'TRADE SECRET' code). In the other half of the states, recounts generally only involve a 3% audit--and that's if you have the money, lawyers and political clout to even get a recount.

2. A 100% recount WAS DONE anyway, in the Maduro-Capriles special election--waste of time though it was. There was no fraud. Most of Capriles' election fraud "talking points" were bullshit (and very exposed bullshit, i.e., lies). Maduro won, and though it was close, it wasn't all that close,. There is simply no question who won it.

3. Jimmy Carter recently called Venezuela's election system "the best in the world." He knows what he is talking about. He and his Carter Center have monitored hundreds of elections worldwide, and go in and help set up honest, transparent election systems--and in fact did so in Venezuela. They don't just "drop in" on election day. They have a thorough understanding of every aspect of elections.

4. ALL international election monitoring groups certified this election.

5. ALL Latin American countries have recognized this election and its winner's government as the legitimate government of Venezuela, as has most of the world--except, of course, for the the U.S. government, which is still hoping for destabilization.

6. Maduro supporters were MURDERED--about half a dozen people--and others were beaten up and intimidated or left with burnt out offices or homes--in the Capriles-instigated riots that accompanied his ever-changing demands of the election commission. He got his recount--and rejected it! This is very typical of the rightwing in Venezuela, which has a core of coup-minded plotters always looking for opportunities to repeat their 2002 coup d'etat attempt. They had a similar plot under way in 2006, using a false poll (by a Washington DC polling firm), but were exposed. They thought they had a new opportunity, with a close Maduro vs. Capriles election, but all their conniving has failed, even with U.S. government support (once again). Now they will go into economic ruination mode, as before. They've already started, with the drumbeat of Associated Pukes, et al, articles about the toilet paper shortage in Venezuela, blah, blah, blah. They are a "broken record."

7. Luckily for Venezuela, sanity and democracy prevailed. Their election system prevailed. Their constitution prevailed. Their people, among the greatest lovers of democracy in the world, prevailed.

8. And I must add this: In the recent Gallup Well-being poll, Venezuelans rated their own country FIFTH IN THE WORLD on their own sense of well-being and future prospects. 5th in the world! That is WHY sanity and democracy prevailed in this, yet another destabilization effort, and will prevail in the future, in Venezuela. Life has never been so good. Poverty has never been so low. Education has never been so available. Public participation has never been so high. And opportunity for all has never been so apparent. The bad old days of government shootings of hundreds of protestors, 100% inflation, "neo-liberal" bullshit, rule by the oiligarchy and Exxon Mobile and utter neglect of the poor majority are OVER. Democracy is WORKING in Venezuela and is, at long last, benefiting all of its people. And all because Venezuelans, the Carter Center and others undertook the difficult but essential task of creating an honest, transparent election system! It is no wonder that rightwingers are attacking it, on behalf of the U.S. and its transglobal corporations. Honest elections are the most important requirement of a decent society and a truly representative government--and it is those very things--a decent society and truly representative government--that our transglobal corporations wish to destroy, so they can loot Venezuela once again. Thus, the attack on the election system, and its echoes here at DU, of all places.

[Marksman_91]

5. Well, the "democracy" right now in Venezuela has brought a few problems with it

Such as rampant crime rates, food shortages, reoccurring blackouts across many sectors of the country, out-of-control inflation and an economy solely dependent on one product (oil) which sale to the US is ironically the only thing keeping it afloat (for now). And I would certainly love for you to show me a post that I've made verbatim in which I take a fully supportive stance for right-wing policies, given that you just love to unfoundly name-call me. But then again you seem to think that anyone against the most incompetent and corrupt government ever installed in Venezuela's history is a right-wing "fascist", even those who voted against Maduro but in favor of Chávez only a few months back. You seem to think you're on te right with all your posts, but who can blame you? You certainly never lived in the country itself to know the people and the actual conditions in which they live in with your own eyes. I suppose it's for the best, given that the reality in Venezuela is one that would shatter your fantasy of a leftist utopia that the Chavista government had (supposedly) established. So show me any article you want that says otherwise regarding he situation in Venezuela, it's still not gonna change the reality of it. By hlthe way, if you're gonna come up with an article with a survey that talks about how Venezuelans think they are the 5th happiest country in the world, well, there's an even more recent one that says they're one of the people who feel the least safe when they go out on the streets. I'm sure you can google it yourself.

[Peace Patriot]

8. Your talking points...

"rampant crime rates"--Honduras is higher and the crime rate in the entire region is high--it's not just Venezuela. It's not good, course, but STILL Venezuelans rate their own sense of well-being and future prospects FIFTH IN THE WORLD. Instead of ragging on the "broken record" rightwing talking points, we should ask WHY. They must be seeing things that you don't see, and that the corporate press doesn't see.

"food shortages" - driven by hoarding (a tactic rightwing business interests have used before) and INCREASED demand, due to PROSPERITY (that ol' well-being thing) especially in the working class and the very poor (dramatic reductions of poverty).

"blackouts" - driven by INCREASED demand, due to PROSPERITY in the working class and the very poor (dramatic reductions in poverty).

"out-of-control inflation" --pre-Chavez government had an inflation rate more than three times higher than that of the Chavez-Maduro government (at its highest--29%). 100% inflation, before Chavez was elected! That's one of the reasons Chavez was elected and re-elected--his government's brilliant, "New Deal"-like, turnaround of the economy and management of inflation in the interest of the poor majority.

"an economy solely dependent on one product (oil)" - All that sizzling growth during the 2003 to 2008 period (10% economic growth rate!), under the Chavez government, was in the private sector NOT including oil, and the same for the very good 5+% economic growth rate since the Bush Junta crash. Venezuelans are buying computers, cell phones, TVs, cars, household appliances, clothing, entertainment, books, school supplies, homes. A lot of the economic growth is in the construction industry--made. in. Venezuela.

Yeah, Venezuela has lots and lots of oil, and I just love it when rightwingers say this--that they are dependent on one product, as an accuation--because, a) most of the growth is occurring in the non-oil sector, and b) what rightwingers REALLY mean is that the oil profits should go to the rich and to Exxon Mobile, and not be "wasted" on education for the poor, and health care for the poor, and pensions for those who never had them before, and agriculture and land reform projects, and local development projects--building schools, colleges, community centers, medical centers, a concert hall for the Venezuelan children's orchestra, local baseball fields and equipment, intensive housing construction (for flood survivors and the poor) and more--in short, on improving the lives of Venezuelans. They have the oil, they sell the oil, they spend the money on their own society! Good for them! That's HOW you create a FUTURE.

"you just love to unfoundly name-call me" - I call it as I see it. Your posts are profoundly rightwing.

"the most incompetent and corrupt government ever installed in Venezuela's history" - Venezuelan governments are elected not "installed." But the more important point is, WHY do Venezuelans keep electing the chavistas? Why have they done this since 1998, in election after election, and just gave a drubbing to the rightwing in the legislative elections, before Chavez died, and an even worse drubbing to the rightwing in the gubernatorial elections, just after Chavez died, and then elected his VP, Nicolas Maduro as president? And WHY do they rate their own country fifth in the world on their own sense of well-being and future prospects? Why?

Could it be that the righting "talking points" are bullshit, that no country is without problems of one kind or another, and they trust chavistas to solve whatever problems arise more than they trust the assholes who produced 100% inflation and stole or gave away all the oil profits, not to mention massacring protestors? And why would the voters trust chavistas on problem solving? Because they've solved so many problems already!--including huge reductions in poverty, huge increases in access to higher education and to medical care, high employment, good wages, huge increases in public participation (awesome voter turnouts, for instance), and, perhaps most important, they stopped the oil wealth from bleeding out of their country to foreign corporations!

"Incompetent"? "Corrupt"? That is ridiculous, unless you think that Venezuelan voters are idiots. They've voted for this government time and again. They've voted for these policies in the National Assembly and the governorships. The government has to be doing a whole lot of good for that to happen. What we have here is the latest slander twist of the rightwing hot air machine: The "dictator" meme failed, so now we have the "incompetence' meme. I'll tell you who's incompetent--the assholes who ran Venezuela as their petty cash drawer for half a century, until the Bolivarian Revolution in 1998, when Venezuelans finally put a stop to it.

"your fantasy of a leftist utopia" - Never said it was a utopia! My views are based on facts. Yours seem to be based on ideology. You never answer the facts--the facts about the election system, the facts about unparalleled prosperity for the majority, the facts about access to education and health care, the polling facts, the election facts, the facts about Venezuelans' optimism and sense of the future, the facts about PRIOR governments' gross mismanagement, theft and violence, the facts about U.S. interference in Venezuela and long history of supporting fascism, torture and murder in Latin America. Venezuela is nowhere near being a utopia--but its people and its government are making one helluva bid for a decent society, a fair society, a truly open society, where everyone has a voice, and hope, and power, and a future.

I've never visited there, it's true. I'm too poor for such travel. But I have close friends who have visited and I get their reports, and I pay very close attention to all news of Venezuela, from numerous kinds of sources. Are you saying I have to be a tourist, I have to have money to travel, to gain a realistic view of a country? That is ridiculous. You can travel to a country and NEVER see it. You can hang out in posh hotels or with rich friends in mansions, or at tourist spots, and never understand a thing.

Why don't you help me out, eh? Go to Venezuela and take a camera crew and film a cross section of the majority--the poor, the workers, the elderly, the young, the secretaries, the nurses, the teachers, the garbage workers, the steel workers, the street vendors, the flood victims, the children in the hundreds of classical youth orchestras, and all the young Pablo Sandovals, and ask them what THEY think of the Bolivarian Revolution.

I can't get a realistic picture of Venezuela from the corporate media. Talk about asburd! They would NEVER do this--give a REALISTIC picture of Venezuela, asking the question: Why have Venezuelans voted for chavistas time and again, over the last decade+? I have to rely on a few documentaries and written accounts, which I have to search the internet for.

You could be my eyes and ears in Venezuela. Why don't you do that--instead of snottily saying I can't see reality, and invent fantasy utopias, because I don't have money for travel.

I guess you do, huh? Got plenty of money for travel? I saw you kibbitizing with Bacchus the other day, here at DU, about a new "upscale" tourist zone you want to visit in Colombia. So I guess you get around and stay in nice places. Probably you wouldn't see the Venezuela that I would see, if I could go. The dirt poor having their own free medical center. The poor mother who dropped out of high school, going back to school, with help from the government. The street vendor holding forth on the constitution. Parts of the constitution printed on grocery bags--I want to see that! The old grandmothers using their cooking skills to provide hot lunches for work crews down the street building the new community center. Dignity. Enterprise. Income--for people who had nothing before, and now have hope. The new funicular up the steep hillside of the barrio. The youth orchestra--oh my, how I want to see them, and not just the main one, but the hundreds of others, all over Venezuela--all funded by the Chavez government.

Utopia, no. Decency, yes. That's what I'm hearing about and would like to see. Could you put aside luxury travel, or business travel, or whatever it is you are doing, and do that for me--interview the people who vote for chavistas and ask them how why they do, and how they feel about things?

Hang out with the people who have changed the political landscape of Latin America? Get their views? Film them? That would be real. That would be useful. Ragging on Venezuelans' efforts to create a decent country is not useful--tearing them down, and blowing problems out of proportion, compared to advances, and NEVER acknowledging ANYTHING positive about a government that has been so popular and influential. You just keep repeating the same old same old rightwing "talking points." Do something different. Do a real travelogue. Show me the Venezuela I am interested in and don't have the means to visit.

[sabrina 1]

9. More of Caprilles, western oligarchy funded talking points. What has the opposition done to

mitigate these 'crime rates'? Apparently they have added to the murders and I sincerely hope they are arrested and tried for those violent crimes.

We in this country should only have a government like Venezuela's. You want to talk about crime? How about 44, 000 Americans being allowed to die by their own government for lack of healthcare? How about elections with no way to check whether or not the votes have been tampered with?

How about War Criminals responsible for REAL violent crime, such as the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent people, allowed to go free without even a suggestion of a prosecution?

How about torturers being protected from prosecution and the victims denied any justice in this country?

How about crooked banks who destroyed the loves of millions of people around the world not only NOT being prosecuted, but rewarded with Corporate Welfare while their victims are left to fend for themselves?

Venezuela looks like a paradise of democracy to many people, especially out-of-work young people from countries like Spain whose economy too was destroyed by Wall St. criminals, now emigrating to Venezuela to find a better way of life?

Show me a perfect country since you are so critical of a country, who despite the never-ending efforts to destroy its road to democracy, including a US backed coup of a Democratically elected president, has done nothing but make progress after decades of a majority of its people being denied basic rights to earn a living, to benefit from its own resources and to conduct some of the most transparent and fair elections in the world??

The focus alone on this oil-producing country tells the story of the far right who ignore the atrocities in countries now backed by the US, such as Honduras eg. Got anything to say about that travesty created with our help where people are murdered on a regular basis for political reasons?

The only people murdered for similar reasons in Venezuela in recent times were murdered by the so-called 'opposition' better referred to as the same old right wing puppets of Western Global Corps.

[Catherina]

6. I hope you'll enjoy this article: "Venezuela: Opposition's ridiculous claims mar political scene"

Of course *marring* is the entire point.

Article:
-----

Venezuela: Opposition's ridiculous claims mar political scene
Monday, May 6, 2013
By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim, Merida


'The Bolivarian revolution guarantees the rights of workers.' Pro-government May Day march, Caracas, May 1. Photo from ABV/Veneuela Analysis.

It would be hard to find somewhere that celebrates May Day more enthusiastically than Venezuela. But this year celebrations were marred by claims made in a document that could easily be mistaken for a lift-out from a UFO enthusiasts' magazine.

Since losing the presidential election on April 14, right-wing opposition leader Henrique Capriles has repeatedly accused the government of committing widespread electoral fraud; stuffing ballot boxes with tens of thousands of fake votes, intimidating voters and hiring goons to eject objectors at gunpoint.

But somehow nobody noticed this except Capriles even his own party's electoral observers agreed on the day that due process had been followed.

To prove that this narrative is more than just a wild fantasy, the opposition has produced a document containing all its “evidence”.

In the tradition of dodgy conspiracy theorists the world over, Capriles has collated a series of grainy photographs and accompanied them with vague statements to support his conclusion. The second half of the dubious document does away with the illustrations, and simply makes more broad statements in gargantuan sized fonts.

Capriles' short booklet of unsubstantiated claims and photography doesn't stand up to scrutiny. After the election, the CNE conducted a random audit of 54% of the ballot, in the presence of opposition observers. No inconsistencies were found.

Given this, the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research found that "the probability of getting an audit result that was obtained on April 14, if there were enough machine errors to reverse the result, is far less than 1 in 25,000 trillion".

Despite his lack of evidence, the National Electoral Council (CNE) struck a deal with Capriles on April 18. Under the agreement, the election would be audited again.

Within a matter of days, however, Capriles backed out of the deal, and started demanding that voter fingerprints and signatures be checked ― all 15 million of them. To support his argument, he presented his collection of poorly shot photographs to the CNE, only to act indignant when the electoral body dismissed his case.

As CNE head Tibisay Lucena pointed out, the body had already “announced the decision for an additional audit and Capriles publicly accepted”.

In a bid to reinvigorate dwindling opposition protests, Capriles called on his supporters to rally on May Day. The move was criticised by the government as an attempt to provoke violence.

Despite clashes between lawmakers in the National Assembly the night before, the May Day marches were generally peaceful. After Capriles planned a march in Caracas that would have come close to colliding with a previously planned Chavista rally, President Nicolas Maduro changed the pro-government march route.

In other parts of the country, Chavista and opposition marches were likewise kept separate.

In the Andean city of Merida, thousands of Chavistas marched, chanting slogans of support for the government and Maduro. Unlike the rallies following the April 14 elections, the marchers appeared to be optimistic and confident.

“Maduro is the son of Chavez,” one Chavista told Green Left Weekly. Others chanted, “Chavez lives!”

In Caracas, Maduro urged Capriles to recognise the election results, telling him to “accept your defeat”. Maduro accused Capriles of seeking to incite hatred and violence.

After Maduro won the April 14 vote by about 1.8%, violent protests by opposition supporters left nine people dead. Health clinics, food stores and the offices of the CNE and the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela were torched.

However, Capriles chose instead to announce that his “evidence” would be taken to the Supreme Court.

Earlier, Capriles said he doubted the Supreme Court would rule in his favour. After all, as Lucena pointed out when dismissing his demands for additional voter identity checks, the opposition would need to produce actual evidence to argue their case.

Previously, Capriles said he believes “this case will end up in the international community”.

This scenario is not as unlikely as it sounds. Most of the region has acknowledged Maduro's victory, but the US continues to back the opposition, and so far has embraced every opportunity to discredit the Maduro government.

Moreover, US efforts to destabilise Venezuela are likely to intensify next year. After the elections, the US State Department 2014 budget was presented to the Committee on Foreign Affairs by Secretary of State John Kerry. Under the budget, “political efforts” in Venezuela will receive increased funding.

As Kerry indicated, there is a “need to change the dynamic in the Western Hemisphere”. Indeed, for over a decade Venezuela has been the epicentre of anti-imperialist struggle in the hemisphere. Today, there is a vibrant political movement across Latin America to move away from US hegemony, and claim true independence for the first time since Spanish colonisation in the 15th Century.

To Kerry, however, such a “dynamic” is unacceptable in what he called “our backyard”.

For now, the State Department seems to be endorsing Capriles' humble pamphlet by refusing to accept Maduro's victory. Whether Kerry will support the tendering of a handful of pixelated photographs in an international court is yet to be seen. They could perhaps be used as justification for more sanctions on Venezuela.

In either case, Capriles' “evidence” is a slap in the face to not only the government and due process, but also to his supporters.

Many Venezuelans who backed Capriles' on April 14 did so out of frustration with the very real problems of corruption and insecurity, with which the government continues to struggle. This was shown on May Day with large marches for and against the government. Capriles continues to command a considerable movement, mustering tens of thousands of supporters to rally across the country.

However, after seeing the opposition leader's “evidence” of “fraud”, it's hard to believe that many voters who backed Capriles aren't having second thoughts.

Ryan Mallett-Outtrim is a Green Left Weekly journalist based in Merida, Venezuela.

Material published on Green Left is welcome to be reposted providing a link back to the original is included.

http://www.greenleft.org.au/node/54010

[Daniel537]

7. Still sore about your buddy losing over there?

That's alright. Only 5 1/2 years til he has another temper-tantrum after yet another defeat.

[roody]

10. k for Peace Patriot's articulate comments