July 31, 2006
Elections in Venezuela
Published by The Economist in "Letters to the Editor"
By Alfredo Toro Hardy, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, London

"SIR - You repeat the claim made by opposition parties in Venezuela that the National Electoral Council is biased against them ("Damned whatever they do", July 22nd). These claims are unfair. The council has invited the electoral authorities of Finland , Belgium and Switzerland to audit its system (together with six Venezuelan universities and the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research) and asked the three main opposition presidential candidates to designate representatives to participate in the audit. It has also agreed that immediately after next December's election, 53% of the ballot boxes will be opened randomly to check their contents against data from electronic voting. By the way, Alfredo Keller, whom you describe as merely a "pollster", is a well-known supporter of the opposition".