Posted on 08/17/2004 2:37:40 AM PDT by nickcarraway
CARACAS, Venezuela, AUG. 16, 2004 (Zenit.org).- The recall referendum held Sunday on Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was a "gigantic fraud," says Cardinal José Castillo Lara.
The National Electoral Council reported today that Chávez won 58.3% of the votes in the recall, compared with 41.7% who voted for his ouster. The tally was 4.99 million votes to 3.57 million.
The Venezuelan-born cardinal told Vatican Radio that a "gigantic fraud" took place in the referendum.
"There was a move to the ballot boxes never before seen in Venezuela," he said. "But the electoral centers, changing the dispositions, used people of the ruling party in the vote-counting."
"Exit polls at the ballot boxes showed that there was 65% in favor of 'yes,' that is, of the revocation of the mandate, and only 35% or at most 40% in favor of the president," said the cardinal, who is an expert in juridical questions and president emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State.
The cardinal also said that governmental representatives bought votes at the ballot boxes.
"Poor people were given the equivalent of U.S. $50 or $60 if they voted 'no,' that is, to keep the president in the government," he added.
I have seen reports on blogs about people being paid to vote no.
vcrisis.com
caracaschronicles.blogspot.com
It can't be. Jimmy Carter endorsed the results.
Did he?
Not surprising. There's never been a communist dictator Carter hasn't endorsed one way or another.
Thanks for the link.
There is no low to low for Carter these days.
Jimmy Carter just certified a fraudulent election.
Way to go, Jimmy.
Well, I mean, this is the guy who gave away the Panama Canal. The only human on the face of the earth who was "surprised" that the Soviets invated Afghanistan.
The Navy should name an open-air sewer after him.
If it were, the Bush Administration has an option. They can refuse to recognize the government as legitimate, and make it necessarily an issue in the campaign.
Why do I suspect Rove would be - a'scared?
But, but......Jeeemy says it's okay....
Whatever....
Now which political party does THAT remind us of, children?
Jimmuuh Carter,( Send a communist to do a job and you reap communist results.) A peanut head with a peanut size brain.
bump
The United States has declined to join international monitors in backing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's apparent victory in a weekend recall election.
The US has also called for a prompt, thorough and transparent probe into the opposition claims of fraud.
While "noting" and praising the work of observers from former US president Jimmy Carter's Carter Centre and the Organisation of American States (OAS), the US State Department said Washington was not yet ready to endorse their finding that Mr Chavez had prevailed in Sunday's vote.
"We note the OAS and Carter Centre announcement that their quick count was consistent with the National Electoral Council's preliminary results," Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman, said.
"We also note their offer to work with the opposition to conduct a full audit of the results and to examine any concerns that have arisen," he said.
"We encourage the National Electoral Council to allow a transparent audit to address any concerns and assure Venezuelan citizens that the referendum was free and fair," he said.
He added: "I don't have anything at this point that I can point to that would talk about a broader pattern or problem of abuse."
Mr Casey had earlier congratulated the Venezuelan people for the "relatively calm, relatively peaceful" polls, but said it was far too early to make "final judgments" on the referendum.
Earlier in Caracas, Mr Carter and the OAS backed official results showing that Mr Chavez had won with 58 per cent of the vote, despite Opposition allegations that the referendum had been marred by massive fraud and irregularities.
Mr Carter urged the opposition to recognise the leftist president's referendum victory.
The opposition, which had sought to revoke Mr Chavez's mandate and cut short his term by two years, maintains that the recall won the support of 59 per cent of voters.
Opposition spokesman Henry Ramos Allup claimed Mr Chavez got only 40 per cent, with 59 per cent of ballots supporting the call for his mandate to be revoked two years before it concludes.
--AFP
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1178806.htm
"Jimmy Carter just certified a fraudulent election."
Another example of the peacnik,"war is not the answer" crowd contributing to the coming conflict.
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