18,903,143 Venezuelans will go to the
polls in the October 7 presidential election. The technical analysis of the
electoral register conducted by the members of Comando Venezuela5 (opposition to President Hugo Chávez)
demonstrates several inconsistencies which—although they do not invalidate the
integrity of the database—could be decisive in the event of a close outcome on
October 7.
On three occasions (during 2012) Comando Venezuela technicians brought
challenges before the electoral authority involving voters that have the same
given names, surnames, and dates of birth, but different identification card
numbers (which are required in order to be able to vote).
The analysis indicates that among
Venezuelans of foreign origin there are 6,199 voters who have 12,414 identification
card numbers, and among Venezuelan-born citizens, there are 9,164 voters with
18,430 identification card numbers, for a total of 30,842 challenged voter
identification card numbers (this challenge has been made since 2008).
Although the final electoral roll for
the presidential election and the regional elections of December 16[1] have
already been published, the CNE has yet to present a detailed report of the
complaints it has received during the period of time provided for citizens to
challenge the electoral roll.[2] The
CNE did not turn over the transactions file of updates to the electoral roll
that would make it possible for the opposition to know where, when, and on what
equipment the requests for registration, relocation, updating, or withdrawal from
the electoral roll were processed.[3] The
CNE also failed to call the representatives of the political
parties to review in detail the documentation of the voters who received their
identification documents for the first time and who were immediately registered
in the electoral roll between September 26, 2010 and April 15, 2012, and of
those whose identification documents were issued prior to September 26, 2010 but
who subsequently registered in the electoral roll at more than 40 years of age.
The opposition also complained to the
CNE about the existence of voting centers located at the headquarters of
Community Councils4 that in the past had not allowed the presence of
opposition witnesses, or the free access of voters for the 2010 National
Assembly elections. They also reported the opening of voting centers in areas
where the State security forces have problems entering, which would mean that
the free access of voters would not be guaranteed.
Expand article: http://ow.ly/bRei2 and http://ow.ly/bRf3d
[1] 23 state governors and 233 representatives
to the legislative councils of those states will be elected.
[2] Between July 2011 and April 2012, 1,360,598
new voters were registered.
[3] This file was requested based on the
comparison of two preliminary cut-off periods dated May 2 and May 8, where
there were 42,000 registrations and around 50,000 relocations that affected the
electoral rolls of nearly 10,000 voting centers.
4 Form of community
organization where the people formulate, execute, oversee, and evaluate public
policies, thus assuming the authority originally assigned to government
structures such as mayors’ offices and governors’ offices. 40,000 Community
Councils have been created during the administration of President Hugo Chávez,
although only the ones that support the “Bolivarian” political process are
officially recognized.
5 This group is
comprised by the political parties that support the presidential candidacy of Henrique
Capriles Radonski.