December 4, 2015
The Venezuelan opposition has directly taken part in and has endorsed without objection the 19 audits carried out so far to the electoral system with a view to the parliamentary elections on Sunday December 6. Their technical experts with unquestionable credentials and chosen by the opposition parties themselves are also certified for the remaining four audits out of the total 23 that establishes the Electoral Branch in Venezuela for this process. This news has not been released in any international media outlet.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) has provided technical support for primary elections held by the opposition coalition MUD, which brings together right-wing parties. On 17 May, 2015 the MUD held elections in 33 out of the 87 constituencies of the country, to elect 42 of its 167 candidates for the National Assembly. This process was technically organized by the CNE with the same electoral platform that will be used on 6 December. This information has not been published by the foreign press either.
International and local media linked to the right-wing gave wide and prominent coverage and treated as a “political event”, the murder of the member of the Democratic Action (AD) party in Altagracia de Orituco, Luis Manuel Diaz, after holding a proselytizing event in this town of Guarico state. However, the news revealing that the late AD member had a police record for various offenses and that the motive was a dispute between criminal gangs operating in Guarico, have been internationally silenced.
The profusion of complaints and attacks against the National Electoral Council contrasts with the concealment of news as the organization by this electoral arbiter of the opposition primaries to choose its presidential candidate for 2012, Henrique Capriles; and the internal elections of the far right party Voluntad Popular or Popular Will, held in July 2011. The clear winner was Leopoldo Lopez –sentenced by Venezuelan justice for his prominent role in violence riots in 2014 that claimed the lives of 43 people– to serve as national coordinator.
In all the electoral processes of the country domestic observers are able to do their job. For 6 December parliamentary elections there are enabled organizations such as Venezuela’s Election Observers Network, Foundation for Decent people, Venezuelan Electoral Observatory, Social Project and Education Assembly –many of them pro-opposition–, who have witnessed and certified audits and other acts set out in the electoral schedule. However, foreign media choose to ignore this reality.
Nor is it news the presence of international observers, who fulfill their duties according to the country’s rules and laws, also in full accordance with the agenda published since the beginning of the year by the CNE. Nor are the technical credentials of the observers of the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts (CEELA) and the UNASUR mission, or profiles of the guests of the electoral authority and political organizations.
The censored news on Venezuelan parliamentary elections are part of a smear campaign that promotes the false allegations of fraud and paves the way to disregard results and to violence. This campaign is also fed with lies and the alleged suspension or limitation of the elections in the 23 border municipalities of Tachira, Zulia, Apure and Amazonas states, which are in a state of emergency to confront the paramilitaries and smuggling that has any implications in political rights, and where, therefore, the elections will be held in the same conditions as in the rest of the country.
http://www.avn.info.ve/contenido/most-censored-news-venezuelan-elections
Source: Venezuelan News Agency