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Published: Monday, December 05, 2005<br>
Bylined to:
<a href="mailto:editors@venezuelanalysis.com">Venezuelanalysis</a>
<br><br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=5 color="#7F0000">International
observers ratify transparency, legitimacy of Venezuelan vote <br><br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=2><b>Venezuelanalysis.com:</b></font>
<font face="Georgia" size=3> International observers from the electoral
commissions of El Salvador, Colombia, Panama, Uruguay, and Nicaragua have
declared their support of the National Assembly vote in
Venezuela.<br><br>
<br>
</font><font face="Georgia" size=2><b>“Democracy is constructed by those
who participate, thus the withdrawal … of the opposition parties does not
de-legitimize the parliamentary elections,” said Eugenio Chicas, a
magistrate of the electoral council of El Salvador. </b></font>
<ul>
<li><font face="Georgia" size=3>In the past week, four important
opposition parties publicly declared their boycott of the December 4
election for the National Assembly, citing lack of trust in the National
Electoral Council.</font>
</ul><br>
<font face="Georgia" size=2><b>President Chavez and his supporters,
though, say that their withdrawal is an effort to de-legitimize the vote
in the face of near-certain defeat at the polls.<br><br>
</b></font><font face="Georgia" size=3>While the parties that withdrew
are among the country’s largest, the Electoral Council announced that
only 10% of the candidates up for election had formalized their
withdrawal. <br><br>
According to Chicas, the opposition boycott “in no way” de-legitimizes
the vote because the observers believe that there are adequate technical
conditions and is one of the most audited and certified votes in Latin
America. <br><br>
<br>
The magistrate of the electoral council of Panama, Erasmo Pinilla, said
that the withdrawal of key opposition parties from the National Assembly
election “is unheard of in the Latin American continent,” especially
after Venezuela’s National Electoral Council conceded to the opposition’s
demand not to use the fingerprint scanners. <br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>For Pinilla, though, the removal of the fingerprint scanner
represents a serious step backwards</u></b> because it is “fundamental”
for transparency and guarantees that no one votes more than once.
<br><br>
</dl>Pinilla went on to explain that the opposition party Primero
Justicia, which withdrew in the last minute, despite earlier assurances
it would participate, was largely due to concerns it had about conflict
with the other opposition parties that had already declared their
withdrawal. Also Primero Justicia does not have sufficient elections
observers to replace the opposition observers that would no longer
participate because of the other parties’ withdrawal. <br><br>
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