Chavez dirty tricks? Venezuela prints a confusing ballot.
Ballots are already printed for Sunday's election in Venezuela, but
the opposition candidate's photo is shown in at least four places where,
if marked, the vote will not be counted for his party.
By
James Bosworth, Guest blogger /
October 1, 2012
Venezuela's
Ambassador to Cuba Edgardo Antonio Ramirez points at a sample ballot
during a news conference in Havana, presenting the Venezuelan
presidential election September 26, 2012.
REUTERS
With a week to go before the election and the ballots all printed, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE)
announced
that votes for the Unidad Democratica party will go to a relatively
unknown third party candidate (Reina Sequera) even though opposition
candidate Henrique Capriles's picture is on the ballot in that spot (h/t
Miguel).
Additionally, three other spaces on the ballot where Capriles's face
appears will be marked as null votes rather than votes for the
opposition candidate.
The ballot spot in question is the very first time Capriles's picture
appears on the ballot if you read left-right, top-bottom (as most people
in this hemisphere do). The name of the party in the spot, Unidad
Democratica, is very close to the Mesa de Unidad Democratica (MUD) that
is the opposition's unified organization. The other spots for the Manos
por
Venezuela,
Piedra y Cambio Pana parties, all with Capriles's picture, appear at
the center and right side of the ballot and will be marked as null
votes. With so little time to go before the election, it is almost
guaranteed that thousands of Capriles voters will not hear the
announcement of this change and will mistakenly mark their ballot in
those spots.
This is a bureaucratic rule change that amounts to stealing votes
from the opposition. In a close election, it could make a difference.
– James Bosworth is a freelance writer and consultant who runs Bloggings by Boz.
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Labels: Communication, Democracy, Latin America
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