Venezuelans have voted to keep Hugo Chávez as their president, electoral
authorities said early this morning after 18 hours of voting, reported Juan
Forero for the New York Times at 9 AM Monday. The national electoral
council president, Francisco Carrasquero, announced at 4 AM that Mr. Chávez
had won the backing of 58 percent of voters, with 42 percent supporting the
opposition's drive to recall him. But the opposition said that the
government had cheated and that it had won by a wide margin. The
Organization of American States and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, which
monitored the election and conducted their own highly accurate voting
samples, had not commented on the dispute as of 8:30 a.m. "The Venezuelan
people have spoken," Mr. Chávez said. He was conciliatory towards his
opponents, calling for a round of applause for them. "This is a victory for
the opposition," the president said. "They defeated violence,
coup-mongering and fascism. I hope they accept this as a victory and not as
a defeat."
Reuters reported at 4:32 AM that two pro-opposition electoral officials
also questioned the result. Shortly before Carrasquero made the
announcement, two members of the five-member National Electoral Council
leadership said they could not back the result. Ezequiel Zamora and
Solbella Mejias, both known opposition sympathizers, said procedural checks
had not been carried out on the results as required. ``These partial
results that part of the National Electoral Council wants to present to the
public cannot be considered official,'' Mejias said.
Bloomberg News reported that crude oil futures fell from record highs after
the vote was announced. There had been concerns in the oil markets that a
defeat would have disrupted supplies from this country, the world's
fifth-largest exporter of oil and a key supplier to the United States.
Brent crude oil for September delivery fell as much as 58 cents, or 1.3
percent, on London's International Petroleum Exchange and was down 43 cents
to $43.45 at 12:04 p.m. local time, Bloomberg said.
Earlier this morning, both sided had predicted victory. Reuters reprorted
at 2:33 a.m. that three Venezuelan government ministers said that President
Chavez had easily survived a referendum on whether to recall him. ``We've
won this by a long way,'' one of three cabinet members, who did not want to
be identified, said as they hugged and celebrated at the Miraflores
presidential palace in scenes witnessed by Reuters. The other two ministers
made similar claims. Shortly earlier, senior opposition leaders had dropped
heavy hints of victory. Venezuelan law prohibits anyone from announcing
electoral results until the country's election authorities do so. ``From
the expression on my face, people can tell what's happening,'' said a
smug-looking Enrique Mendoza, a leader of the opposition coalition which
forced Sunday's referendum on the populist president. Another opposition
leader, former state oil company executive Juan Fernandez, said: ``We're
going to have fireworks and music .... we're going to say Venezuela woke up
on the day of the referendum.''
With crude futures above $46 a barrel in overnight trading, oil will remain
the focus for most investors even as they derive some solace from early
reports of victory for President Chavez in the referendum, Reuters reported
this morning. Prices fell modestly after results released by Venezuelan
electoral authorities with 94 percent of the vote counted showed Chavez
survived a referendum to recall him. Energy markets have been worried about
disruptions to the country's oil production if a disputed result sparked
social unrest. Shipping sources had said shipments from Venezuela, the
world's fifth-largest crude exporter, were running smoothly.
Robert Naiman
Senior Policy Analyst
Venezuela Information Office
733 15th Street, NW Suite 932
Washington, DC 20005
t. 202-347-8081 x. 605
f. 202-347-8091
www.veninfo.org
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The Venezuela Information Office is dedicated to informing the American
public about contemporary Venezuela. More information is available from the
FARA office of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC.
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