Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2005

Venezuela held a parliamentary election on 4 December 2005. The following elected posts were filled:

*167 deputies to the National Assembly
*12 deputies to the Latin American Parliament
*5 deputies to the Andean Parliament

Background

ecrecy of the votes

Just weeks before the elections, an audit was made in presence of the National Electoral Council (CNE), OAS international observers and several political parties. During the audit, the opposition started claiming that the electoral machines recorded the sequence of the votes, while fingerprint scanners recorded the information of each voter. However, though the fingerprint scanners were altogether not connected to and in different places than the voting machines, and the lines of voters at each of the machine groups were totally unrelated, the opposition put forward the case that it was possible to unscramble the information, stating that cross-matching the data between the two machines could potentially show the voting details of those who voted. The reconstruction of this data is considered possible by some characters, allegedly due to the requirement of access to the voting machines and knowledge of the password. As an extra measure of reassurance, the CNE agreed to format the data held on the voting machines as soon as these finished transmitting their precinct totals to the CNE. As long as every voting machine also printed its precinct totals, it was easy for all involved parties to check the validity of the data as reported in both instances, the printed precinct totals and the partial results reported in the CNE tallying center. [http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1829] [http://buscador.eluniversal.com/2005/11/28/en_pol_art_28A637019.shtml]

A few days later, on 29 November, The CNE agreed to remove the fingerprint scanners in order not to discourage potential voters but stands by its claim that the fingerprint scanners are not usable to identify the votes. The same devices were used on the 2004 recall referendum, and the state governors' elections that same year. [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1355855] Verify source|date=July 2007

Political parties' withdrawal

After the audit, the main opposition political parties started considering the possibility of boycotting the elections as a form of protest. By the Friday before the elections, five opposition political parties had withdrawn from the election: Democratic Action ("Acción Democrática"), COPEI ("Social Christian Party of Venezuela"), Justice First ("Primero Justicia"), Project Venezuela ("Proyecto Venezuela") and A New Era ("Un Nuevo Tiempo"). These political parties represent the majority of the opposition forces in the country. Perez Vivas of COPEI asked the CNE to postpone the day of the polls until the levels of reliability increase.

Vice President José Vicente Rangel claimed "they know that they are defeated because they too read the surveys and know that if they participate they will have a poor representation." He also stated that the U.S. Department of State, through their embassy in Caracas, was responsible for the withdrawals. [http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1830]

The deadline for candidate withdrawal was Saturday, 3 December, at 4:00 pm. The CNE announced that not all of these political parties formally withdrew, meaning that only 10.08% of the candidates were officially out of the elections. [http://www.cne.gov.ve/noticiaDetallada.php?id=3587]

The withdrawals left no significant right-wing parties in the election. The left-wing anti-Chavez parties Movement Towards Socialism ("Movimiento al Socialismo"), Red Flag Party ("Partido Bandera Roja") and Democratic Left ("Izquierda Democrática") did, however, participate in the election, but won no seats. [http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1830]

Results

CNE announced preliminary results that show that the pro-Chávez party Fifth Republic Movement won 114 out of 167 seats in the National Assembly, and all other seats were won by allied parties. The Fifth Republic Movement list also received 89% of the vote for the Latin American Parliament [http://www.cne.gov.ve/int_divulgacion_parlamentarias/index_principal.php?t=res&elec=2&e=0&m=0&p=0&c=0&n=0] and the Andean Parliament. [http://www.cne.gov.ve/int_divulgacion_parlamentarias/index_principal.php?t=res&elec=3&e=0&m=0&p=0&c=0&n=0] It is estimated that the turnout in the election was about 25% compared to 50 to 60% in previous parliamentary elections (2000 and 2002). [http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-venezuela-election-results.html] [http://www.eluniversal.com/2005/12/04/epar_ava_04A640281.shtml] es_icon

Some suggest that these results are a very important issue in Venezuela, since a two-thirds majority in parliament is needed to change the constitution. The Fifth Republic Movement now holds a sufficient majority to change the constitution with or without the support of other political parties. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4496586.stm] [http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051205/w120582.html]

The opposition and some international observers have made the claim that the abstention rate of about 75% demonstrates a deep distrust in the electoral process and the Chávez government. [http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/13347030.htm] Government officials claim that the withdrawal of the opposition candidates was a tactic to undermine the vote as undemocratic and was done after seeing their low standing on the polls. The opposition claim of low voter confidence can also be disputed by the fact that more than 72% of Venezuelans voted in the Venezuelan Presidential election of 2006, an election where Hugo Chavez received close to 63% of the popular vote; far ahead of his closest rival who was supported by the main rightwing opposition parties. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza criticized the withdrawal after the National Electoral Council's capitulation on the most urgent of the conditions the opposition parties had highlighted ( [http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=MOE-VE-04 OAS press report] ).

CNE has not yet released the official results, although according to their website they should have been released by January 3, 2006. [http://www.cne.gov.ve/elecciones/diputados2005/documentos/CRONOGRAMAELECCIONES04DIC2005EN1.pdf]

International press reaction

*"Chávez's Grip Tightens as Rivals Boycott Vote" - [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/05/international/americas/05venez.html?hp&ex=1133758800&en=d9095e8fb2de81a9&ei=5094&partner=homepage "The New York Times"]
*"Venezuela 'landslide' for Chávez" - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4496586.stm "BBC News"]
*"Chávez Allies Are Poised To Solidify Their Majority" - [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/04/AR2005120400969.html "The Washington Post"]

ee also

*National Electoral Council (Venezuela)
*Electoral calendar
*Election
*Universal suffrage

References and external links

*, "Wikinoticias", December 5, 2005
*, "Wikinoticias", December 3, 2005
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4487686.stm BBC News article on the political parties' withdrawal]
* [http://www.publiuspundit.com/?p=1995 Fraud in Smartmatic machines]
* [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1364509 ABC News article on Chávez accusations]
* [http://english.eluniversal.com/2005/11/30/en_pol_art_30A638085.shtml El Universal (local newspaper) article on the causes of the withdrawal]
* [http://buscador.eluniversal.com/2005/11/28/en_pol_art_28A637019.shtml El Universal article on detailed information about the audit]
*Mark Weisbrot (Center for Economic and Policy Research), Larry Birns (Council on Hemispheric Affairs): [http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/articles.php?artno=1618 Open Letter to the Journalists Covering the Venezuelan Elections] (1 December 2005)
* [http://www.thedailyjournalonline.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=209065 "Defeat and victory sow dissent," Daily Journal, Venezuela, December 16, 2005]
*es_icon [http://www.cne.gov.ve/ Consejo Nacional Electoral official site]
*es_icon [http://www.eud.com El Universal official site]
*es_icon [http://www.oas.org/OASpage/Events/default.asp?eve_code=1 OAS section on the Venezuelan parliamentary elections, 2005]
*es_icon [http://www.cne.gov.ve/int_divulgacion_parlamentarias/index_principal.php Initial lists of candidates]