THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA
JANUARY 08, 1999
| THE UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA |
by Patty PittsCanadian voters who think our election ballots are getting too lengthy should spare some sympathy for the voters of Venezuela. The ballot handed out at polling stations during the country's December presidential election was the size of a poster. Each ballot carried full colour logos of the myriad parties endorsing candidates in the election, along with photos of their chosen candidates. Not surprisingly, several candidates' photos appeared more than once. "It's permissible to vote more than once for the same person, providing one of the parties hasn't changed its endorsement prior to the election," explains geography lab instructor John Newcomb, who was an election observer with the Carter Center of Atlanta. A last-minute endorsement change did occur after the ballot had been printed but, despite that, only six per cent of the ballots were considered spoiled. Newcomb considers that low, especially given that the actual space provided to mark the ballot is small and faintly-marked. The Venezuela experience is Newcomb's second as an election observer. In 1995 he observed the Peruvian presidential elections for the Organization of American States. The Carter Center obtained his name from a file the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) keeps on citizens with linguistic or other skills useful for election observing. Newcomb speaks Spanish and was a political analyst at the Canadian embassy in Lima, Peru from 1988 to 1990. |  |
Observers spent two days in orientation sessions in Caracas before being sent to their postings throughout the country. "The Carter crew was fascinating to work with," says Newcomb. "Both President Carter and [his wife] Roslyn Carter were on the ground, being actively involved in the process. He has enough stature in the international community to be able to look all the candidates in the eye and get them to commit to abiding by the election results, even if they lost." A democracy since 1958, Venezuela still invites international observers to scrutinize its elections. "It has a concern about legitimacy," says Newcomb. "The old-line parties don't have the confidence of the electorate." While it's de rigeur to have military guards posted at voting areas, "only those in certain areas had the bullet clips on their guns. If the clips were off, it meant you were in a quiet area." Heading into the election, the leading candidates were Irene Saez, a former Miss Universe, and Luis Alfaro. But the ultimate winner was 44-year-old Hugo Chavez, who led a failed coup attempt against the sitting government in 1992 and spent time in jail before being exonerated by the former president. Venezuela's $80 million computer system started producing results an hour after the polls closed at 4:30 p.m. and Chavez was a clear winner by 6 p.m. "Venezuela wanted a free, fair, transparent election and President Carter declared it free and fair the morning after the election." |