The Devil's Excrement

I find it
somewhat funny and ironic how both Chavistas and opposition politicians seem to
avoid and skirt any discussion of what has happened in Mexico ever since the
Presidential election two moths ago, which culminated today with the ruling by
the Electoral Court that Felipe Calderon had won.

This blog
is about Venezuela
and I avoid talking about issues that do not focus on my country, but I think
it is a little bit silly for our politicians to avoid the topic.

Chavistas
avoid it, because they do not want the same principles applied to them. When Lopez
Obrador demands a recount of all the ballots, this goes to the crux of the oppositions
arguments for counting all of the ballots in Venezuela, which Chavistas have refused
to do over and over, despite the fact that it would have cleared up many
uncertainties, as well as making people more confident on the voting system.

The
opposition has also avoided the subject, apparently because they do not sympathize
with Lopez Obrador, who is asking for the recounting of all the votes. Thus their
silence.

I found
both positions incredibly superficial and stupid There are very few
coincidences in the two cases and few similarities, to wit:

1)     
The
Electoral Court
in Mexico was appointed when
PRI was dominant in Mexico
ten years ago and it can hardly be called partisan for the party that
essentially forced PRI out of the electoral picture in Mexico.

2)     
All
decisions by the Court were unanimous, in contrast with the fact that all difficult
CNE decisions during the recall petition, recall referendum and subsequent
elections were decided by either a 3-2 vote, prior to the current CNE and
4-1 since the new one with four clearly pro-Chavez members was appointed.

3)     
Perhaps
the most important point, all votes were actually counted in the Mexican
election at least once, something that has never been done in Venezuela since
the new voting machines were acquired. Lopez Obrador is asking that all votes
be recounted, whether they are under question or not. (Under a Supreme Court
ruling in Mexico,
a complete recount implies the election is invalid and a new one needs to be
held)

4)     
The
Electoral Court
recounted all tallies with both parties having copies of them, something that
has not happened in Venezuela
since the 2000 Presidential election, so that it has been impossible to even check
that the sum of the tallies is correct

5)     
The
Electoral Court
in Mexico
recounted 9% of the ballots, which were all of the cases that were submitted to
it in which there were charges of errors, evidence of fraud or specific
evidence that there may be a problem. Close to a quarter million votes were
disqualified in this recount.

Thus, the
suggestion that there is any similarity between what happens in Venezuela and what has happened in Mexico is
purely coincidental, just a full counting of the votes would have made a huge
difference socially and politically in the Venezuelan recall vote and recent
elections. Thus, our politicians on both sides should be more honest and be capable of  studying, discussing and understanding these issues. We need it to survive as a Nation.

This entry was posted on September 5, 2006 at 8:33 pm and is filed under Venezuela.