Sunday, September 12, 2010

Chavez continues to abuse power and violate electoral regulations in Venezuela legislative election campaign

This post is a response to an article posted on transd[e]uce: electoral controversy in Venezuela: can elected officials campaign? (part 1)

As you state, Venezuelan law does not prohibit public officials from participating in the campaign. However, it does prohibit the use of:

1) public resources (including state media); and
2) the advantages of public office.


The problem in Venezuela is not that President Hugo Chavez has his favorites in the election and that he participates in campaign events. The problem is that the extremely large Venezuelan state media machine is utilized to promote events which the president participates in.

Outside of major cities, government radio and TV are the only news sources to which the population has access. In the first 15 days of the campaign, President Chavez was on-the-air an average of 4 hours each day (4 x 15 = 60 hours total), including 8 hours in nationwide "blanket broadcasts" (cadena nacional).*

The US equivalent would be the following:

1) From October 1-15, 2010, President Barack Obama will participate in 60 hours of televised campaign events for the Democratic Party with an eye toward the November congressional elections.

2) All national broadcasters (ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, etc.) are required by law to air 8 of those hours (nearly 30 minutes daily). The remaining 52 hours (3.5 daily) will be broadcast in their entirety on NPR, PBS, CSPAN 1, 2 and 3.

3) Any US non-profits registered to monitor the election process will be required to have prior approval of their observation plans by the federal government. These organizations will also be prohibited from commenting on the electoral process prior to election day. In addition, their report on the elections can be submitted only to the federal government (i.e. not publicly or to media).

Does this sound like a "free and fair" electoral environment?

###

PS - Many thanks to transd[e]uce for the mention and link.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Other Venezuela Blogs

Venezuela News Websites

Venezuela Elections News (English)

National Assembly News (Spanish)

Elections Media Coverage (Spanish)