A real poll

July 10, 2004

Interpret it in anyway you want and however way you want. This week the first round of election to select the new Rector (President) of the Universidad del Zulia (LUZ) was held. There were three candidates, one pro-Government, two anti-Government. The two anti-Government candidates won with 77% of the vote.


It is true that the University does not have the cross section of the population and is not exactly representative; however, this represents a shift of some 28% of the votes from pro-Chavez candidates to anti-Chavez candidates.


 


Both Professors and students vote in elections for President of public universities in Venezuela. Abstention was low among Professors (30%) and high among students (60%).Universidad de El Zulia had been traditionally controlled by Movimiento al Socialismo (MAS) party, a left leaning political part which supported Chavez in the 1998 and 2001 elections, but has since split form Chavez and is one of the main opposition parties.  With this vote elections in the three largest universities in the country UCV, LUZ and ULA have been won by opposition candidates. Public Universities in Venezuela are anything but right wing or oligarchic, so try to explain this to a pro-Chavez left winger from abroad.

This entry was posted on July 10, 2004 at 1:37 pm and is filed under Venezuela.

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