CC commenter Syd asked this question in the previous post: “Does Maria Corina Machado lead a political party?” The answer is both yes and no. Confused? Then, allow me to explain. It does exist, but isn’t allowed yet to participate in any election (at least on its own). Why? Well… it’s a long story. Two…
On Tuesday the CNE – our very neutral elections authority – explained that the gender quota would not apply to the candidates elected in the primaries. Seems like someone in the government party did some number crunching. As Eugenio Martinez explains in Prodavinci, only 28 women from a total 113 districts were elected in the PSUV primaries. If the…
Tibisay Lucena, the head of Venezuela’s National Elections Council, has been called many things before: a die-hard chavista; a machiavellian tool of the revolution; a sensible technician; a lover of fine London restaurants (ask me about that later). But one thing she had never been called before was “feminist icon.” After today, that may change. Today,…
In an ill-humored, defensive speech, brimming with reproaches against her critics, CNE-head Tibisay Lucena called Legislative Elections for December 6th. The speech was a remarkable piece of wounded-ego venting: a long lament about academics who’ve criticized her, GOP voter suppression, and an undending hyper-whiney, etc. Que mujer tan profundamente acomplejada. But in the end, all…
Most opposition insiders were viewing today’s primaries to select opposition candidates for Parliament with a mix of fear and dread. Many voters were not informed of the election, the media was looking the other way, and the funding was short. The goal was to get 350,000 voters to show up (out of around 7 million eligible…
The opposition will be holding a primary this Sunday. In 35 electoral circuits around the country, anyone able to vote will be allowed to select the person he or she prefers to be the unity candidate(s) for those circuits. This webpage, and this article by Puzkas, are a useful reference for the interested voter. Sadly, you probably haven’t…
(Now, to keep the conversation on our electoral system going, a guest post from friend-of-the-blog Sasha Ojeda and IT Specialist Sander Plas. Both of them are based in Amsterdam. Enjoy!) When we read Juan’s article about the (im)possibility of monitoring the voting process in real time and the many doubts surrounding the subject, we started…
No one will be surprised that Juan and I don’t really agree on how the opposition should respond to what is, by all accounts, a hideously one-sided, partisan chavista CNE. Because, to be clear, virtually no one in the opposition thinks CNE’s board is even remotely impartial. We just disagree on what to do about…
… (and some of our questions) Here is the bodyguard, Leamsy Salazar, and his claims on what happened during Nicolás Maduro’s election in 2013, courtesy of Emili Blasco’s book: “In the room, organized in a U-shaped pattern, were twenty-four monitors, one for each state, plus a central one adding up the votes in the entire country……
In 2010, Venezuelans voted to elect a new parliament, the National Assembly. The date of the election was September 26, 2010. The Electoral Council (the CNE) announced the date on November 4, 2009, ten months in advance. In 2012, we voted again, this time for President. The date of the vote was October 7, 2012. The CNE…
Just how bad are our elections? Well, now we can quantify this! Researchers from Harvard University and the University of Sydney have launched The Electoral Integrity Project, a non-profit research venture that looks to quantify and compare elections worldwide using surveys of election observers and experts. Among the issues they survey are electoral procedures, voter…
Over in El Universal, Puzkas has a scoop on CNE’s plans to redraw the National Assembly district boundaries to eliminate a number of safe oppo seats. El proyecto, facilitado por técnicos electorales del PSUV disminuye la cantidad de diputados que se escogen la circunscripción 2 de Miranda, la cantidad de diputados tipo lista en el Distrito…
If you’re like most people, for you election day means queuing up, voting, then going back home to try to relax, at least up until it’s baranda time. Not for me. In each of the last eight elections I’ve left home at 5:00 am and gotten back at 1:00 am, hungry, bone tired and smelling like a metro station. I…
Last week, the government announced that addressing the country’s deep-seated economic distortions…just wasn’t something they were going to worry about. A few days have passed since the economic non-announcements that made this patently clear. So what does this tell us about the political road ahead? That the 2015 National Assembly elections are going to be rigged. Big time.…
Today marks the tenth anniversary of the day the opposition lost its groove. On August 15th, 2004, a recall referendum on Hugo Chávez’s rule was held. The referendum came on the heels of massive protests, numerous roadblocks, and a populist spending binge that marked the chavista approach to governance until this day. After numerous hours…
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