Chavez wins recall vote

[link|http://www.iht.com/articles/534547.html|IHT]

Fresh from victory and emboldened by a decisive mandate, President Hugo Ch\ufffdvez has the opportunity to extend an olive branch to a seething Venezuelan opposition and a suspicious U.S. administration, but the rifts may have grown too deep to be mended.

Chaves won the election by a decent margin, but it's not the decisive margin a lot of news are talking about. 58 to 42 is the offical tally, so his margin is strong but not overwhelming.

The opposistion is already crying voter fraud. From what I have seen, I expect there was some fraud on both sides. I don't expect the opposistion to give up as long as they are supported by the US though.

Personally, I think the opposistion folks are surprised by this, because they only talk with other people within the richest 10% of the population. Chavez has the backing and loyalty of the poorest half of the country.

Hopefully this doesn't go to Chavez's head and turn him into a real dictator.

Jay

[link|http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=534518.html|This goes way beyond dangling chads]

Excerpt:

Evidence of foul play has surfaced. In the town of Valle de la
Pascua, where papers were counted at the initiative of those manning the
voting center, the Yes vote had been cut by more than 75 percent, and
the entire voting material was seized by the national guard shortly
after the difference was established.

Three machines in a voting center in the state of Bolivar that has
generally voted against Chavez all showed the same 133 votes for the Yes
option, and higher numbers for the No option. Two other machines
registered 126 Yes votes and much higher votes for the No. The
opposition alleges that these machines, which can both send and receive
information, were reprogrammed to start adjudicating all votes to the No
option after a given number of Yes votes has been registered.

Although the Organization of American States and the Carter Center have
called the election free and fair, their quick count justifying this
statement was also based only on the numbers provided by the voting
machines. The two organizations had brokered an agreement to examine, in
the presence of government and opposition representatives, a sample of
150 voting points chosen at random. A comparison of the results printed
out by these machines with the papers contained in the corresponding
boxes was to be concluded this week. But the opposition now wants all
machines and ballot boxes to be examined.

I say:

No word on who made those voting machines, but it appears that
[link|http://www.atmmarketplace.com/marketplace_storefronts_client.htm?i=16&article_id=13202&step=story|Diebold] does business in Venzuela.

[link|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/politics.world.html#20040819|Home link]

Post #169,902 by JayMehaffey 8/18/04 2:33:52 PM Reply	Chavez wins recall vote [link\|http://www.iht.com/articles/534547.html\|IHT] Fresh from victory and emboldened by a decisive mandate, President Hugo Ch\ufffdvez has the opportunity to extend an olive branch to a seething Venezuelan opposition and a suspicious U.S. administration, but the rifts may have grown too deep to be mended. Chaves won the election by a decent margin, but it's not the decisive margin a lot of news are talking about. 58 to 42 is the offical tally, so his margin is strong but not overwhelming. The opposistion is already crying voter fraud. From what I have seen, I expect there was some fraud on both sides. I don't expect the opposistion to give up as long as they are supported by the US though. Personally, I think the opposistion folks are surprised by this, because they only talk with other people within the richest 10% of the population. Chavez has the backing and loyalty of the poorest half of the country. Hopefully this doesn't go to Chavez's head and turn him into a real dictator. Jay
Post #170,128 by marlowe 8/19/04 12:30:47 PM Reply	Not as simple as that. [link\|http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?file=534518.html\|This goes way beyond dangling chads] Excerpt: Evidence of foul play has surfaced. In the town of Valle de la Pascua, where papers were counted at the initiative of those manning the voting center, the Yes vote had been cut by more than 75 percent, and the entire voting material was seized by the national guard shortly after the difference was established. Three machines in a voting center in the state of Bolivar that has generally voted against Chavez all showed the same 133 votes for the Yes option, and higher numbers for the No option. Two other machines registered 126 Yes votes and much higher votes for the No. The opposition alleges that these machines, which can both send and receive information, were reprogrammed to start adjudicating all votes to the No option after a given number of Yes votes has been registered. Although the Organization of American States and the Carter Center have called the election free and fair, their quick count justifying this statement was also based only on the numbers provided by the voting machines. The two organizations had brokered an agreement to examine, in the presence of government and opposition representatives, a sample of 150 voting points chosen at random. A comparison of the results printed out by these machines with the papers contained in the corresponding boxes was to be concluded this week. But the opposition now wants all machines and ballot boxes to be examined. I say: No word on who made those voting machines, but it appears that [link\|http://www.atmmarketplace.com/marketplace_storefronts_client.htm?i=16&article_id=13202&step=story\|Diebold] does business in Venzuela. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/politics.world.html#20040819\|Home link] ---------------------------------------------------------------- "All the news you wish would go away" Iraq is free, and there's nothing you can do about it. DEAL WITH IT. [link\|http://www.angelfire.com/ca3/marlowe/index.html\|http://www.angelfire...arlowe/index.html]
Post #170,130 by boxley 8/19/04 12:33:22 PM Reply	he who owns the oil gets the diebold These miserable swine, having nothing but illusions to live on, marshmallows for the soul in place of good meat, will now stoop to any disgusting level to prevent even those miserable morsels from vanishing into thin air. The country is being destroyed by these stupid, vicious right-wing fanatics, the spiritual brothers of the brownshirts and redstars, collectivists and authoritarians all, who would not know freedom if it bit them on the ass, who spend all their time trying to stamp, bludgeon, and eviscerate the very idea of the individual's right to his own private world. DRL questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]

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