Posted on 12/08/2015 12:49:20 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
Dictators are typically bad losers. Whenever the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez felt in danger on the eve of an election, he would conjure the possibility of violence, death,or chaos if the vote didn't go his way. The modern dictator doesn't threaten a bloodbath, of course; rather,he suggests obliquely that "forces could be unleashed," that the "will of the people" cannot be denied, or that the "streets will erupt.".... Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro followed suit in the final days of Venezuela's parliamentary election..
... the opposition's tally could rise to 112 or 113 seats. If the opposition wins a supermajority, it would have the power to pass major pieces of legislation,sack ministers and Supreme Court justices,and rewrite Chavez's 1999 constitution that centralized so much power in the president's hands. With voter turnout topping 74 percent,the opposition can credibly claim a mandate to undo the country's failed socialist project, which has left Venezuela an economic basket case....
.....But authoritarianism doesn't just concede victory;it must be won-and Venezuela's opposition came prepared on Sunday. The get-out-the-vote effort for young voters was impressive,on par with a similar campaign run in Serbia in 2000. Planeloads of Venezuelans who had been forced to flee the country in recent years returned home to cast a vote. The opposition was ready to defend their votes as well. They had more than 5,000 volunteers,trained in nonviolent tactics, divided into more than 1,000 small cells and stationed at the most important polling stations across the country... They had also developed a quick count system and centralized their collection of election data from volunteers so that they could spot irregularities or violations in "almost real time."
This fight,however,is nowhere near over. Maduro and the ruling party will attempt to marginalize this victory in the weeks and months ahead through a variety of means............
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Despots rarely concede quietly.
my take on the news:
Dictators are typically bad losers. Whenever the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez felt in danger on the eve of an election, he would conjure the possibility of violence, death,or chaos if the vote didn’t go his way. The modern dictator doesn’t threaten a bloodbath, of course; rather,he suggests obliquely that “forces could be unleashed,” that the “will of the people” cannot be denied, or that the “streets will erupt.”.... American President Barack Obama followed suit in the final days of Americas elections prior to the electors meeting on December 14th that Obama’s majority will reach 320 thus insuring him another 4 years of the presidency.
Slate came out against a Socialist dictator??? What next? Prosecuting Hillary?
Coming soon to a Green Mountain State near you.
This is the biggest story of the week. And we are too dumb to care.
It’s a look into the future - where we’re headed if we don’t reverse course.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/665723/posts
Yup. But we’re distracted by fear and stupid politicians.
But this is very encouraging. Hope Maduro doesn’t start machine gunning opposition.
He’ll probably stage a coup to smoke out defections in the military and police.
What awful times but I’m encourage that the opposition had such a solid vote.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.