Opposition parties appear reluctant to endorse Borges as presidential candidate
by Jeremy Morgan
National Electoral Council (CNE) President Jorge Rodriguez stood defiant over not releasing data about voters listed in the permanent electoral register.
The decision came amid continuing skepticism about the CNE’s neutrality in the run-up to next December’s presidential election.
* The doubts have mounted since Rodriguez, who was nominated to the CNE board by the government, took over at the top last year.
The government sprang to Rodriguez’ defense. Communications & Information Minister Willian Lara told the CNE’s critics to shut up and stop pressuring it to break the rules.
Were the CNE to comply with demands for more information from the electoral register, he argued, it would violate a ruling by the TSJ that data such as voters’ addresses should not be revealed. Unless the TSJ reversed that ruling, to do so “would violate the fundamental rights of every one of the Venezuelans,” Lara claimed.
The CNE has so far declined to publish even the basic list of voters, much to the chagrin of opposition political parties and pressure groups such as Sumate, which played an active role in campaigning for the recall referendum which failed to unseat President Hugo Chávez in August 2004.
Sumate director Maria Corina Machado ... one of four key figures at the organization who face court charges of conspiracy that could earn them long prison sentences on conviction ... remained unbowed.
Not for the first time, she called on the CNE to release the register, and asked why it hadn’t done so. “We’ve arrived at a point, and I believe it’s a consensus,” she declared. “The great majority of us Venezuelans are in accord on clean elections,” Machado continued, claiming these people included “some who are very close to the President.”
* “This means a revised electoral register ... if the register’s so good, what’s the fear about publishing it?” She argued that the law obliged the CNE to publish the register in its entirety and to submit the list to an external audit.
The response to this and other criticism was quick in coming from Rodriguez, and it was characteristically forthright. The CNE, he said, didn’t need to take lessons from anyone ... the only powers to which it was subject to were the Constitution and electoral law.
Machado had also commented on the wider political perspective. The government and the National Assembly (AN), she said, had reached a difficult crossroads.
All 167 seats at the legislature are filled by government supporters after the opposition pulled out all its candidates, only days before the parliamentary elections last December. The majority of the people, she claimed, had sent a clear message to the government, which now had an opportunity to select a “truly impartial and independent CNE as stipulated by the law.”
A committee of 11 AN deputies and 10 people from other sectors of society is in the process of selecting candidates for a new board at the CNE, where four out of the five present directors are deemed sympathetic to the government.
The opposition seemed no nearer to ending its impasse in trying to find a single unity candidate to stand against Chavez in the presidential elections next December.
Proyecto Venezuela’s leader Jorge Sucre said it was premature to consider candidates or start campaigning when the electoral system didn’t merit confidence, as the result of the parliamentary election had shown. He said it was important not to lose sight of the need to resolve problems undermining trust in the electoral system.
There was a sudden upheaval among the Social Christians Copei. Secretary-General Cesar Perez Vivas and party president Eduardo Fernandez were abruptly ousted after a meeting voted 46 to four to reject the annual report and accounts submitted by Perez Vivas, who was accused of negotiating with the government.
He was replaced by Luis Ignacio Planas and it remained unclear just who would take over from Fernandez ... or when. Inquiries to party headquarters elicited no response.
Primero Justicia leader Julio Borges kept plugging away at his lone bid to stand as the opposition candidate to take on Chavez ... he is the only opposition figure to have declared themselves so far, and he urged opposition colleagues to discuss the candidate and fight for clean elections.
To date, most mainline opposition parties have appeared reluctant to endorse Borges as their candidate.
National Electoral Council (CNE) President Jorge Rodriguez stood defiant over not releasing data about voters listed in the permanent electoral register.
The decision came amid continuing skepticism about the CNE’s neutrality in the run-up to next December’s presidential election.
* The doubts have mounted since Rodriguez, who was nominated to the CNE board by the government, took over at the top last year.
The government sprang to Rodriguez’ defense. Communications & Information Minister Willian Lara told the CNE’s critics to shut up and stop pressuring it to break the rules.
Were the CNE to comply with demands for more information from the electoral register, he argued, it would violate a ruling by the TSJ that data such as voters’ addresses should not be revealed. Unless the TSJ reversed that ruling, to do so “would violate the fundamental rights of every one of the Venezuelans,” Lara claimed.
The CNE has so far declined to publish even the basic list of voters, much to the chagrin of opposition political parties and pressure groups such as Sumate, which played an active role in campaigning for the recall referendum which failed to unseat President Hugo Chávez in August 2004.
Sumate director Maria Corina Machado ... one of four key figures at the organization who face court charges of conspiracy that could earn them long prison sentences on conviction ... remained unbowed.
Not for the first time, she called on the CNE to release the register, and asked why it hadn’t done so. “We’ve arrived at a point, and I believe it’s a consensus,” she declared. “The great majority of us Venezuelans are in accord on clean elections,” Machado continued, claiming these people included “some who are very close to the President.”
* “This means a revised electoral register ... if the register’s so good, what’s the fear about publishing it?” She argued that the law obliged the CNE to publish the register in its entirety and to submit the list to an external audit.
The response to this and other criticism was quick in coming from Rodriguez, and it was characteristically forthright. The CNE, he said, didn’t need to take lessons from anyone ... the only powers to which it was subject to were the Constitution and electoral law.
Machado had also commented on the wider political perspective. The government and the National Assembly (AN), she said, had reached a difficult crossroads.
All 167 seats at the legislature are filled by government supporters after the opposition pulled out all its candidates, only days before the parliamentary elections last December. The majority of the people, she claimed, had sent a clear message to the government, which now had an opportunity to select a “truly impartial and independent CNE as stipulated by the law.”
A committee of 11 AN deputies and 10 people from other sectors of society is in the process of selecting candidates for a new board at the CNE, where four out of the five present directors are deemed sympathetic to the government.
The opposition seemed no nearer to ending its impasse in trying to find a single unity candidate to stand against Chavez in the presidential elections next December.
Proyecto Venezuela’s leader Jorge Sucre said it was premature to consider candidates or start campaigning when the electoral system didn’t merit confidence, as the result of the parliamentary election had shown. He said it was important not to lose sight of the need to resolve problems undermining trust in the electoral system.
There was a sudden upheaval among the Social Christians Copei. Secretary-General Cesar Perez Vivas and party president Eduardo Fernandez were abruptly ousted after a meeting voted 46 to four to reject the annual report and accounts submitted by Perez Vivas, who was accused of negotiating with the government.
He was replaced by Luis Ignacio Planas and it remained unclear just who would take over from Fernandez ... or when. Inquiries to party headquarters elicited no response.
Primero Justicia leader Julio Borges kept plugging away at his lone bid to stand as the opposition candidate to take on Chavez ... he is the only opposition figure to have declared themselves so far, and he urged opposition colleagues to discuss the candidate and fight for clean elections.
To date, most mainline opposition parties have appeared reluctant to endorse Borges as their candidate.
posted by Alice at
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
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