How would you rate Venezuela's Democracy?

[everythingsxen]

On a scale of (1 - 5), 1 representing a token democracy that is little more than an autocracy with "elections" to make it look democratic and 5 representing as close to perfect free and fair elections where everyone's vote counts, how do you rate Venezuela?

[everythingsxen]

1. Please feel free to actually respond and give your reasons why

you vote how you do...

Or don't.

[ANHG]

4. Nah!

How can one count the votes of needy people who live in poverty and oppression when given cheap food and worried about persecution?

[Richard Steele]

7. You could count them with a transparent process, one that's fair and democratic...

...a process that's been given a passing grade by every impartial international
election-monitoring organization which ever observed it.

You know- like they do in Venezuela!

[NoodleBoy]

2. I would give it 2.5 stars

because everything seems to be working right, but I'm always wary of politicians who are too popular. sure Chavez is on the left and all, but, sometimes he seems to get too close to authoritarianism for comfort.

just for context, I'd give the US 3, because although we do have questionable election ethics and our fare share of authoritarian-tending politicians, the many layers of democracy we have and other things keep us buoyed even in bad times.

[1932]

3. Do you know that Venezuelans rate their democracy highest in the hemisphere

The story about that poll has been linked here before.

In a poll by a respected firm, more Venezuelans ranked their government as democratic than citizens in any country ranked their own governments, and Venezuela had the highest percentage of people who said their country was heading in the right direction.

[leftstreet]

5. It was signed off by observers from the EU, OAS, and the Carter Ctr

I don't know if that indicates "perfect, free and fair elections," but it's better than any monitoring we have here.

[w4rma]

6. *****

Flanker wrote:
I made a detailed post at dkos http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/28/171646/44 and thought you guys might want to read it:

Generally I have seen some cheap points being scored here about Venezuelan elections, normally they mention that we use electronic voting without any details hoping to ensnare those that against black box voting. But they omit tons of details that ensure that our elections are IMHO the best run elections in the world. I recently helped write an article in wikipedia about the 2006 Venezuelan presidential election There are tons of details over there amd I recommend reading it, but I will stick to the issue at hand after the break...
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Generally I have seen some cheap points being scored here at dailykos about Venezuelan elections, normally they mention that we use electronic voting without any details hoping to ensnare those that against black box voting. But they omit tons of details that ensure that our elections are IMHO the best run elections in the world. I recently helped write an article in wikipedia about the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venezuelan_presidential_election%2C_2006 There are tons of details over there amd I recommend reading it, but I will stick to the issue at hand after the break...


Paper ballots

All machines are standardized (smartmatic machines) and they ALL print paper ballots, inspected and deposited in a box by voters, which are later used to to audit 54% of all machines. This is done by law whether the margin be 20 points or 500 votes. Saving the loser the embarrasment of calling for a recount. An audit is also better than a recount because every single deviation (even by one vote) is noted and scrutinized, rather than having a recount erase the first count.

Complete transperancy

Every single vote audit is observed by well trained citizens (give credit to the opposition for that) but also international observers including the EU, OAS, Mercosur, and Carter Center. Also all machines are audited beforehand by specialized technitians on all sides.

Results in less than a day

How many elections are still up for grabs from the midterms? obviously the most important advantage of electronic voting is precise results no longer than a few hours, the only thing that takes time after polls close are the inmediate audits.

Full audits after the election

Granted with less oversight, every single detail is audited months after the election.

Here is what I wrote in wikipedia that is more detalied.

Electoral Audits

Even though international observers are present the CNE instituted an open and public series of audits of the vote results. Each electoral center will likely be equiped with multiple touch screen machines each defined as a voting table, after the vote is cast each machine prints out a paper ballot which is inspected by the voter and deposited in a paper ballot box of his table. The machines are disconnected from any network until the polls close.<22>

Tally scrutinization

After the polls close the following event performed step by step.

* Polls closed
* Tally scrutinization announced
* Each machine prints an original tally sheet, each has a voter total and the number of votes cast for each candidate of that particular machine/table.
* Each machine is connected to the network and the results are sent to the vote counting center
* 9 extra tally sheets are printed and distributed to staff and the six representatives of the candidates that recieved the most votes.
* With the original tally sheet in hand the total number of votes cast is compared to the sign up sheet or electoral notebook, finally the electoral ballots are counted one by one to see if they add up to the total. Any anamoly is mentioned in the tally sheet report, signed by staff and auditors. Which is then sealed and given to the military for delivery to the CNE.

Source CNE<22>

Random paper ballot audit

Once the tally scrutinization is complete the staff proceeds to perform the random paper ballot audit of 54.31% of the machines. Each voting center can have anywhere from 1 voting machine to more than 10, the staff randomly selects the tables/machines drawing a number out of a paper hat, the size of the draw is dependant on the number of tables/machines.

Number of Machines Number of Machines to be Audited Total Machines audited
1 to 2 1 5,795
3 to 5 2 6,002
6 to 8 3 4,011
9 to 10 4 980
More than 10 5 770

Source CNE<22>
Audited Total Machine Universe Percentage audited
17,558 32,331 54.31%

Source CNE<22>

The following procedure occurs step by step

* Polls closed
* Tally scrutinization finishes
* Random paper ballot audit announced
* The machines are randomly selected drawing numbers out of a paper hat
* The machine's serial number is recorded
* The corresponding paper ballot box is selected and opened
* The paper ballots results for each candidate are openly counted
* With the original tally printed from the electronic results, both results are audited
* Any anomaly (even if by one vote) is recorded in the audit report
* The origninal audit report is signed by staff and observers, officially sealed and handed to the military for delivery to the CNE
* Copies are handed over to the representatives of the two highest vote getters.

Source CNE<22>

The whole source is this file from the Consejo Nacional Electoral If you can read spanish there are tons more details there.

Here are also a few pictures from national newspapers



Hat tip to http://oilwars.blogspot.com /

PS Sequoia is not Smartmatic, The later owns the former but it was a recent acquisition, I don't know what system Sequoia uses.

[necso]

8. I don't know.

I have very little knowledge (useful, known-to-be-accurate (here to some high degree of confidence) information) of the particulars -- therefore I've come to no conclusion -- and I've made no judgement.

[everythingsxen]

9. Kick a'fore I go..

[nosmokes]

10. I give it a 3 which is damn good for a latin american country that has

experienced the turmoil venezuela has. and while the national elections were conducted with much transparency and were probably more open and honest than the last 2 US presidential elections, i don't believe the same can be said for local and regional elections in venezuela, but neither is there widespread corruption on a massive scale like there was(is) in el salvador or columbia.

[donheld]

11. A 3 is damn good for the state of the US Democracy. nt

[rman]

12. how many stars would you give to the pre-Chavez regime?

[nosmokes]

14. according to the OP's criteria pre-Chavez would get a one n/t

don't get me wrong. i'm a big fan of hugo, but i think in a country like venezuela, where there is such a disparity between the haves and have nots, between the rural and the urban, that it would be nigh impossible to get any better than what he's done. take into consideration that parts of the country really haven't been mapped aand there are tribes that have at best sporadic contact with the *outside* world, and thaat's only because of gold or oil generally, so they aren't real eager for more. that said, it's my understanding that chavez has made huge stridfes in improving the lot in life of the average working man & woman, especially the the rural worker.

[Selatius]

13. Chavez is a failure, compared to great leaders like Joseph Stalin

Chavez should be given a failing remark for not rounding up tens of thousands of people after the failed military coup and having them "liquidated" for treason by advocating open rebellion against a democratically elected government. He fails for not having them all shot and thrown into mass graves, and he fails to get rid of free and fair elections where the EU, the OAS, and the Carter Center monitor. A good dictator doesn't have elections.

:sarcasm: