The Far Right Seeks to Turn Venezuela Into a US Colony: Canadian Political Scientist
March in support of President Nicolas Maduro, Tachira, Venezuela, 2024. Photo: X/ @PartidoPSUV
August 5, 2024 Hour: 9:44 am
The destruction of the Bolivarian symbols expresses the intention of conservative forces to return Venezuela to the past.
In an article published in the Orinoco Tribune, Canadian political scientist Arnold August analyzed the importance of the National Electoral Council (CNE) in the Venezuelan contemporary political history.
RELATED:
Re-Elected President Nicolás Maduro Stressed That Fascism in Venezuela Will Not Seize Power
This institution is part of a process of institutional construction that began with the 1999 referendum, when the Venezuelans voted in favor of the formation of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution.
“The overwhelming popular approval was the key step in the evolution of the Bolivarian Revolution. It fulfilled the main promise that Commander Hugo Chavez had made in the 1998 elections,” August recalled, highlighting that the drafting of the new constitution was accompanied by a process of intense discussion in grassroots organizations.
“The people received assistance in procuring, reading, having read by others (illiteracy was still a problem) and making proposals for changes and modifications in the original draft. Containers with thousands of proposals were sifted through, with the result that 70 percent of the original draft was modified.”
But that was not all. The 1999 referendum gave way to the formation of a new state structure in which the National Electoral Council would be considered the fifth power.
Therefore, August notes that the criticisms of the legitimacy of the CNE made by transnational far-right forces actually represent attempts to disqualify the new forms of participatory democracy that the Bolivarian Revolution has institutionalized in Venezuela for 25 years.
“It is no coincidence that paid and drugged rioters destroyed several statues of Chavez on July 29. It was clear that they wanted to return Venezuela to the pre-Chavez situation under the pretext of electoral ‘fraud’,” the Canadian political scientist noted.
The allegations of electoral fraud, however, lack any basis. As an international electoral observer, August stressed that the Venezuelan electoral system has been designed to be “fraud-free” because it has various safeguards that guarantee respect for the citizen’s vote. Among them, for example, is the use of fingerprints as a mechanism for verifying the voter’s identity.
Once citizens casts their electronic votes, a paper ballot allows them to verify which election was made. Additionally, the electronic machines are not connected to the CNE during voting hours to avoid any manipulation or hacking of the votes.
“Then, the voter goes to another booth to deposit the ballot in a small ballot box. At the close of voting, each political party has the right to send a witness to observe the counting of the paper votes and the mechanical results to verify that they match,” August said.
Once voting is over, authorities conduct a random recount of 54 percent of the polling stations in order to issue the first rapid results. Subsequently, once the counting of all votes nationwide is over, political parties can file challenges if they have reasons to do so.
In the 2024 elections, the electoral system functioned normally, as hundreds of observers accredited by the CNE were able to confirm. Once over 96 percent of the transmitted votes were counted, the candidate of the Great Patriotic Pole, President Nicolas Maduro, was reelected with 51.95 percent of the votes.
Although the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez came in second with 43.18 percent of the votes, the Venezuelan far right did not recognize the final result of the elections, thus ratifying a position that it had held since before voting day.
To thwart the attempts at destabilization, Maduro asked the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice to initiate an exhaustive investigation into the 2024 presidential elections and their results.
The Bolivarian leader also ratified that his political organization will present to the Supreme Court 100 percent of the electoral records it held and called on all political organizations to do the same. This, however, did not happen as the Venezuelan far right did not present its alleged evidence to the judges.
August notes that Venezuelan conservative forces and their foreign allies did not want to use the existing institutional procedures to process their demands. Instead, far-right organizations, supported by the mainstream international media, reinforced narratives aimed at generating supposed certainties about the victory of candidate Gonzalez, rushing to proclaim him as Venezuela’s president-elect.
“By the end of day on August 1, the U.S. official stance, as articulated by the U.S. Department of State – citing “fraud” – was unambiguous: ‘We congratulate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on his successful campaign. Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition’,” the Canadian political scientist recalled.
This political ploy, however, was to be expected given that for months the Venezuelan far right and its allies had been creating the conditions to justify their electoral failure on the basis of an alleged fraud, thus seeking to open the way for the return of plans for political destabilization through the use of force.
“Their objective has been to effect regime change with the intention of destroying the Bolivarian Revolution and returning Venezuela to the status of a U.S. colony,” August concluded.
teleSUR/ JF Source: Orinoco Tribune