September
26, 2003
The regulations
on the recall vote
By
Eugenio Martínez
(Originally
published by El Universal and reprinted by Petroleumworld.com)
- The
five directors of the National Electoral Council
(CNE) unanimously approved the regulations governing
recall votes in Venezuela. Said rules include
a 157-day period -as of September 26, 2003- to
organize a recall vote on President Chávez'
mandate.
Francisco Carrasquero, President of CNE, announced
the regulation. The rules approved by CNE have
filled a legal void. During more than two years,
the National Assembly failed to pass the Citizens'
Participation Law.
The regulation -comprising 65 articles- establishes
that political organizations or citizenry organizations
duly registered with CNE have to give written
notice on "the beginning of the process to
convene a recall vote". Such a petition is
to include the name, last name, and position of
the public official whose mandate is to be revoked,
as well as his/her inauguration date.
The petition is also to indicate the number of
signature collection centers and their distribution
in every state of the country. In this sense,
CNE has set a maximum number of collection centers
of 2,700 for presidential recall votes.
Once the CNE's directors approve the recall petition,
it will have a 20 calendar day period to print
the signature collection forms and to hire and
train the observers that are to monitor the collection
of signatures.
People signing to endorse a recall vote will have
to indicate in forms duly coded by CNE their name,
last name, identity card, date of birth, state
or electoral district, original handwritten signature
and fingerprint.A recall vote may be held on February
29, 2004 if the requirements set by the National
Electoral Council (CNE) are met.
Signatures can be collected during four continuous
days, provided that the collection starts on Friday
and ends on Monday. The signatures collected are
to be authenticated by CNE.
Carrasquero said the rules are to be published
on October 2 in the Official Gazette. He insisted
that the recall vote is to be automated, and it
may include "real time audits" to monitor
the balloting process.
