Despite
a high level of election transparency, one that Jimmy Carter called
“the best in the world”, the US and its allies have accused
Venezuela of election fraud. Caleb Maupin breaks down how Venezuela’s
electoral system really works.
by
Caleb T. Maupin
Part
1
The
State Department has announced that the United States, unlike Russia
and China, will not recognize the results of Venezuela’s May 20
election. Canada and a few Latin American allies of the U.S. joined
in rejecting the results.
The vote
re-elected Nicolas Maduro to a second six-year presidential term.
Maduro, who won a solid majority of 67 percent of votes cast, is a
former bus driver and labor activist, and leads the United Socialist
Party (PSUV). He ran on a platform of continuing the “Bolivarian
Revolution,” a process launched by his predecessor Hugo Chavez,
named in honor of South American independence fighter Simon Bolivar.
The stated goal of the Bolivarian process is to bring Venezuela
toward “21st Century Socialism.”
A few
well-known anti-government activists in Venezuela were barred from
participating. Henrique Capriles, a previous presidential candidate
from the Democratic Roundtable (MUD) was barred for misappropriating
campaign funds for personal use. Leopoldo Lopez, another well-known
opposition figure, was barred after being convicted of inciting
violence and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Major
opposition parties Justice First, Popular Will, and Democratic Action
urged voters to boycott the election, after the failure of
negotiations with the government following its Constituent Assembly.
The main
opposition to Maduro in the presidential race came from Henri Falcon.
Falcon ran from the Progressive Advance Party, and received roughly
21 percent of the vote. Falcon calls himself a socialist and is a
former member of the PSUV who left to join the opposition in 2012.
Falcon accused Maduro of mismanagement of the economic crisis, and
argued that Venezuela should drop its independent currency, adopt the
U.S. dollar, and join the International Monetary Fund in order to
receive emergency funds to resolve the crisis.
Javier
Bertucci, a well-known evangelical Christian minister, also ran for
president, receiving about 10 percent of the vote.
Source,
links:
https://www.mintpressnews.com/the-facts-about-venezuelas-may-20th-presidential-election/242622/
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