Using that peculiar set of logical steps that the Chavez administration likes to use, the Vice-President and the Cabinet’s lawyer rejected the decision by the Electoral Hall of the Supreme Court yesterday by arguing that this was not an electoral process but a referenda and thus the matter was not part of the jurisdiction of that Hall.
With their characteristic unity the arguments were the same leading me to look up in both Spanish and English dictionaries what the words elector and referendum mean. Using just one example, Merriam Webster refers you to the word elector when you look up electoral, when you look up elector, then it says:
1 : one qualified to vote in an election
2 : one entitled to participate in an election
then, if you look up referendum you get:
1 a : the principle or practice of submitting to popular vote a measure passed on or proposed by a legislative body or by popular initiative b : a vote on a measure so submitted
Thus, if electoral refers to the ability to vote and a referendum is a vote; it would seem to be quite a stretch to argue that matters of referenda have nothing to do with the electoral hall. But what else can you expect from a Government that violates human rights and is always riding the edge of illegality. Anywhere else in the world, a ruling by the Supreme Court is the last words, here in Venezuela Government officials “decide” with that peculiar logic of this so called revolutionary process that they will not obey it.
As simple as that: If the ruling is good for me I accept it, if not, I reject it. Meanwhile, the opposition has to deal with obeying all rulings in this unfair tug of war in which a powerful side, which has money, controls institutions and exerts pressure on all of them, refuses to follow the law when it is not convenient, while a weak pluralistic opposition with limited resources has to follow the rulings and the abuses of power.
But for all of the appearance of confidence and the cockiness that the administration shows, there is concern. The decision by the electoral hall is final, it is not an injunction and it preceded any published decision by the Constitutional hall on the matter. Thus, it has in theory to be followed or the Court may cite the CNE Directors for contempt. This is why Chavez electoral command and the CNE’s legal counsel went today to the Constitutional Hall to ask for interpretation.
And it was no coincidence that celebrating the second year anniversary of his return to power Chavez directly accused the White House and mentioned mysterious US airplanes and ships close to the coast of Venezuela. Chavez left, however briefly, because after nineteen people were brutally murdered and hundreds injured by the Government, the military asked him to resign and he did, if you don’t believe me, ask his current Minister of Interior and Justice. The US planes and ships however real or virtual they may have been, played no role on those events, thus this is yet another smokescreen to deflect attention from the grave problems facing a pseudo-democratic Government with sinking popularity, rampant corruption and the threat of massive electoral losses in the recall referendum and the regional elections. And don’t believe them, a referendum is a very real electoral process, that is why they are pulling all the stops to stop it.
Note added: For those of you that do not read cooments, Peter asks in the comment how come the Electoral Hall has no jurisdiction over referenda matters, but the Electoral commission does? Nice going Peter, could not have been said in simpler or more logical terms. It’s a pity logic has no place in the Vth. Republic!
The Devil's Excrement 
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