In a nationwide TV address yesterday CNE Director Jorge Rodriguez “explained” why there was no fraud, saying no proof had been submitted by the opposition and that the Electoral Registry did not have the problems denounced by the opposition. E said the phenomenon of more voters than inhabitants had occurred in other elections and that in nay case the number was very small with only 32,000 voters involved. The latter is, of course, a silly argument since he is only taking into account those towns where the number of voters exceeded the number of inhabitants, but its says nothing of those where the number is exorbitant without exceeding the number of inhabitants.
Rodríguez also denied a lot of things that were not part of the accusations by the opposition such as rumors of Russian hackers or interference of the communications using satellites which were not part of the documents presented by the opposition. This part I found offensive and abusive on the part of the CNE Director, using superficial accusations which were not part of the challenge to laugh at the possibility of fraud.
He was superficial, referring to caps and mentioning Hausmann and Rigobon in that instance, but failed to note the coincidence problem where, as noted here, there are calculations that suggest the impossibility of what was observed. The cap problem once again, was not mentioned in the oppositions challenge but was used irresponsible by Rodriguez in his nationwide address.
He mentioned that pro-Chávez exit polls said the opposite of opposition exit polls, but nobody has been able to get their hands on that data while opposition exit polls from at least three institutions (Sumate, Primero Justicia and Proyecto Venezuela) have been distributed generously to be studied by anyone that has requested it. Moreover, the only pro-Chávez exit polls that have been publicly quoted yielded results that have too much error with the final results of the recall vote, given the size of the samples made.
He mentioned the “cold’ audit of August 18th. but failed to mention the failed “hot” audit of Aug. 15rh. And results that remain mysterious to date.
Rodriguez closed by threatening to take to court anyone that continues making accusations of fraud against the CNE. All in all, I found Rodríguez to be strident, superficial and consider his use of a forced nationwide TV address to broadcast his point of view and abuse of power since the opposition has not been given the same ability to present its case to the nation and explain its suspicions as to what happened on Aug. 15th.
Today Tulio Alvarez, the lawyer who prepared the case responded to Rodriguez saying that eh had not responded to any of the reasons why the CD challenged the results of August 15th. , suggesting that Rodriguez had not even read the request. He reiterated the accusations and said that Rodriguez’s arguments about the Electoral Registry in no way address the massive and fraudulent issuing of ID cards without control that took place.
Alvarez said the Electoral Board continued its abuse of power by denying the challenge presented by the customary three to two vote, without any discussion or presentation of a study of the allegations. He called on the two opposition Directors to resign from the CNE.
The Devil's Excrement 
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