October
29, 2004
Venezuela's regional elections
(BBC Mundo) - "On October
31st 2004 Venezuelans will elect regional
authorities in what many consider the
second part of the presidential referendum
Governors, mayors, councillors
and regional legislative assemblies
will be renovated after Sunday October
31st, when more than 14 million electors
are invited to vote (...)
The process is seen as
the sequel to the referendum. In fact,
it has been very influenced by the results
of that consultation in which President
Hugo Chávez ratified his mandate until
2006.
The opposition appears
to be disunited and demoralized after
the defeat, while the government sector
is full of triumphant air.
Opponents to the president
were not able to define unitary candidates;
this implies dispersion in the opposition
vote. In fact, there is a big chance
that the official sector will win most
of the governorships (...)
The fraud claims by the
opposition after their defeat in the
presidential referendum on August 15th,
have had a boomerang effect among their
followers and many analysts say that
with this attitude the opposition will
loose governorships controlled by them
until now.
Traditionally, the regional
elections are the ones less attended.
Historically, there is 50% and 70% of
abstention. On this occasion it is very
possible that most of the people who
refrain from voting will be government's
opposition (...)
The opposition organisations
tried to revert this tendency in order
to keep their votes in the places where
they have a chance to win. Last week,
political opposition leaders tried to
rescue the voting willingness of their
followers".
