Venezuela held its National Assembly elections on December 6, 2020. As expected, the Western media framed the re-election of Nicolas Maduro as testament to the fraudulent nature of the elections. The headlines used were, at times, indicative of the bias against the incumbent. For instance, abcnews ran the story under the headline: ‘Legislative election leaves Venezuela in political standoff.’ Time used the headline: ‘Maduro’s Grip on the System is now Total.’ Venezuela’s Opposition Faces Uncertain Future After Parliamentary Elections.
It is to be remembered that Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader, declared President Nicolas Maduro illegitimate and asserted himself as the country’s interim President in January, 2019. Allegedly instigated by the US, Guaido’s self-assertion as the legitimate leader of Venezuela has enjoyed the backing of about 50 countries worldwide. Reuters reported back in January, 2019 that Guaido faced difficult odds in assuming the role without a source of revenue or control of the military. The report further indicates that the US intervened by freezing Venezuela’s national petroleum company PDVSA’s U.S. assets, including proceeds from oil exports, and limit the company’s transactions.
Apparently, things did not end with measures to free assets. The Ambassador of Venezuela to Ethiopia, Modesto Ruiz Espinoza, told The Reporter that PDVSA’s US subsidiary Citgo has eight thousand gas stations across the US and that the Whitehouse put Guaido in charge of the financial resources of Venezuela. Reuters’ report quotes the then US national security advisor, John Bolton, as saying “the sanctions would block 7 billion USD in PDVSA’s assets plus over 11 billion USD in lost export proceeds over the next year.”
Guaido also called for military uprising against President Maduro at the time but that did not materialize. His failure was then followed by US threats to intervene militarily in Venezuela. The prospects of such a move were denounced by other opposition politicians as well and the threats proved to be bluff.
The US measures to appropriate Citgo’s financial proceeds and contemplate military action against Venezuela are signals of US attempts to provide Guaido with the source of revenue and control of the military that he was lacking in his bid to overturn Maduro as President. Such actions are clear indicators of concrete operations by the US to put someone they favor on to the apex of power in yet another South American country – Venezuela.
Articles such as the one posted by the US Embassy in Georgia headlined ‘As fraudulent election nears, Maduro cracks down on journalists’ are, therefore, not that surprising after all despite the fact that they called the elections fraudulent even before they were held.
After the election results that revealed President Nicolas Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela as the victor came through, Western media came up with all sorts of negative reports and backed the political stands of their governments. Voice of America (VOA) reported: “Maduro brazenly rigged these elections in his favor through the illegal seizure of political parties’ names and ballot logos, manipulation of the process by his loyalist electoral council, violence and intimidation, and other undemocratic tactics.”
The Organization of American States (OAS) came up with a resolution that called for the establishment of a transitional government completely shunning the elections held on December 6. The resolution put forth by Brazil and backed by Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the US and others urged for a new electoral process with “independent international observation missions.”
The Venezuelan Ambassador to Ethiopia, Modesto Ruiz Espinoza, pointed out that Western countries and members of the OAS were invited to observe the elections but they decided not to do that of their own volition. Ambassador Espinoza further noted that their primary aim is to meddle in Venezuela’s affairs and oust its legitimate leader Nicolas Maduro.
The Ambassador explained that more than 300 international observers followed the electoral process and reported the elections as transparent. He said 60 of the observers were from Africa and the whole group of observers came from 34 countries located in five continents. Nicanor Moscoso, President of the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts, CEELA, told reporters that the Venezuelan elections were free and transparent. Four former Presidents of Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Spain were present and they were full of praise for the electoral process. Former President Rodríguez Zapatero of the Republic of Spain was also among the leaders who gave their positive accounts of the elections. While talking about the political situation in Venezuela and the way the issue is treated internationally, he pointed out that it reflects the ‘absurdity of politics.’
Despite Western allegations and sustained attack of the electoral system in Venezuela, election experts all across the world agree that it is one of the best, if not the best, electoral systems in the world. Argentinian observer Marina Urrizola said “The Venezuelan electoral system deserves to be studied and recognized for its results.” One of the most recognized election observers in the world, Former US President Jimmy Carter, clearly stated his high ratings for the country’s electoral system. During the kickoff of the Annual Conversations at the Carter Center series in 2012, the former US President said: “As a matter of fact, of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world”.
Reports indicate that Carter praised the South American nation for having a voting system that makes verifying results an easy task. The report states: “The technological solution developed by Smartmatic, which has been used in Venezuela since 2004, includes touch-screen voting machines that store votes electronically (encrypted and scrambled), and print a paper receipt for each vote. This characteristic, the full implementation of the VVPAT concept, gives the system a great advantage according to Mr. Carter.”
Carter’s rating clearly indicates that US electoral process is more susceptible to electoral fraud and is less transparent that that of Venezuela’s. There have also been repeated claims of vote rigging in US elections, especially during the 2000 elections that saw Jeff Bush, George Bush’s brother, tamper with votes in his state Florida to help out his brother. In his book entitled ‘Election fraud and the myths of American democracy,’ Andrew Gumbel wrote: “The 2000 Presidential election, and the bitter 36-day fight that followed over the pivotal state of Florida, opened the eyes of many Americans to a reality they had, up to that point, largely chosen to ignore: that their electoral system was – in at least some parts of the country – decrepit, poorly managed, lacking transparency or clear procedural rules, and prone to corruption, political manipulation and outright fraud.”
The international system is an undemocratic sphere where the powerful dictate how others behave. The concept of democracy needs to be broader to incorporate an international dimension in which state actors assume the old values of territorial integrity and sovereignty. States should have the right to decide which ideologies and policies to pursue. Superpowers also need to act responsibly.
By Tewedaj Sintayehu
