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Editorial Commentary
VenEconomy: Con game
This week the National Assembly will be delivering the text of the major changes made (up to now) to 69 articles of the 1999 Constitution --the subject of a referendum scheduled for early December-- to the National Electoral Board.
The referendum will be deciding on the Constitution and the economic, political and social system that will govern the future life of the Republic. As such, it will be the most decisive vote cast by the Venezuelan people throughout the country’s entire democratic history. All the more so because the proposal is being presented by a government that wishes to impose a totalitarian, socialist system that will eliminate all democratic freedoms and rights, and a president-for-life in the person on Hugo Chávez.
Unfortunately it seems that, for the millions of Venezuelans who believe in democracy and freedom, there is no coherent strategy, no single criterion, no well-organized machinery ready to stand up to this communist onslaught. The democratic opposition is drifting along without a rudder.
One piece of clear evidence of the anarchy reigning in the ranks of the opposition is to be found in the proposals making the rounds over the Internet, many of them so preposterous that they seem to have come out of the situation room at Miraflores for the purpose of sowing even greater confusion among the people.
One such suggestion tell voters that, on referendum day, they should take their ballots and keep them.
To begin with, to do so would be a breach of the Electoral Law; moreover it would end up working against the cause of democracy because the person’s vote would be lost. Most everywhere in the world, what counts when deciding on the will of the people is the number of ballots placed in the box. Nobody at all will believe in a ballot that somebody waves around the day after the referendum.
Regardless of whether most of the Venezuelans who disagree with the amendment being proposed by the government decide to vote or not to vote in December, this alternative must be rejected as absurd and nothing but an effort to con people.
In the event that the opposition decides on a massive show of people at the polls, the ONLY way to defeat this proposed amendment is by means of a great deal of organization, planning and participation to: (a) count the ballots, (b) compare the total with the numbers given on the written records and, if they do match; (c) insist on an independent vote count.... And, above all, by a group of leaders committed to seeing that the will of the people is honored.
VenEconomy is a Venezuela's leading specialized publisher in the economic and financial area. VenEconomy's Points of View on the issues of the day, as seen by VenEconomy during the last week. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.
Editor's note: This commentary was originally published by VenEconomy, on 10/29/2007. Petroleumworld reprint this article in the interest of our readers. Petroleumworld does not necessarily share these views.
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Petroleumworld News 10/30/07
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