Venezuela polls: Independent observers vouch for transparency

CEELA President Nicanor Moscoso has said its members are "satisfied" and "confident" that the regional elections to be held on Sunday across Venezuela will be carried out with "absolute transparency".

"We are satisfied, confident that tomorrow the electoral process will go off with absolute transparency; the results will be appropriate," he told a press conference on Saturday after explaining that 12 audits of the electoral system have been carried out and that for each one the political parties expressed their acceptance, Efe news reported.

Moscoso said that "every one of the audits was witnessed by almost all of the 16 political organisations" and that only the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela "is capable of organising an election in such a short space of time".

The Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA) President also said that on this occasion the organisation of the electoral process has been easier since there are "220 candidates" and not more than 6,000 as in the elections for the National Constituent Assembly late last July.

According to Moscoso, the 17,000 people barred from voting for different reasons represent "less than 0.01 percent of all voters and so could not affect the election results".

Another CEELA member Guillermo Reyes said that in the audits "the political organisations" have associated with one another "in peace and harmony" and that the parties' requests have been looked after.

"The consolidation of the electoral platform and its functioning have been made abundantly clear, which has produced higher indices of security, efficacy and trustworthiness."

On Sunday, Chavismo and the opposition will contest the 23 state governments in the country after a campaign in which the anti-Chavistas reported a series of "irregularities" on the part of the CNE.

The electoral process will be followed by some 70 international observers and 1,240 Venezuelan observers "with a wide range of access so they can adequately carry out their activity", said CNE head Tibisay Lucena.

--IANS

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