Monday 29 April 2013

Electoral body to start partial "audit" of Venezuelan polls

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) was preparing on 29 April a partial audit of votes cast in the 14 April presidential elections, in spite of stating earlier that this would likely not overturn the results and re-election of President Nicolás Maduro, which the opposition has firmly contested. The former opposition candidate Henrique Capriles alleged there had been electoral fraud and has demanded a full recount of votes. The CNE was to audit between 6 May and 4 June a random selection of ballot boxes from the 46 per cent of voting stations not audited automatically on 14 April, the daily El Universal reported on 28 April, citing comments by the CNE head, Tibisay Lucena. This was apparently an expanded audit to which the authorities had agreed, though the opposition remained dissatisfied, having demanded an audit with all documents evidencing the voting process including lists of those who voted, El Universal reported. The opposition coalition Table of Democratic Unity (MUD) decided on 28 April that its technicians would not attend the start of the random audit, suspecting authorities did not want a full verification using voter lists and fingerprints. A MUD spokesman said the opposition had specific evidence of irregularities required to back any legal challenge it might launch against the elections, El Nacional reported on 29 April.