VENEZUELA: Polls close in the Venezuelan presidential elections while protesters claim irregularities

Voting ended in Venezuela's presidential election and Venezuelans were anxiously awaiting the announcement of the results on Sunday (December 3). Rumours and speculation abounded as Venezuelans anxiously waited to hear the official declaration from the National Electoral Council (CNE). Polls began to close at the scheduled closing time of 4 pm local time (2000 GMT). Venezuelan law dictates that polls have to remain open until the last person in the queue has voted, even if voters join the queue after the official closing time. According to the CNE, some 16 million Venezuelan voters were registered to vote and many turned out early at the polls. Chavez has accused Rosales of planning to cry fraud if he loses. Chavez says the opposition will then mobilize street protests and foment army unrest. Rosales' camp has vowed to call for demonstrations if there is fraud but has denied charges he is planning a coup. Omar Barbosa, the head of the Rosales national campaign team, said they were going to give careful attention to the results. "We are going to count all of the votes, we are going to undertake the audits, we are going to obtain the polling station records (paper record). We are going to show Venezuela and the world what is was that happened here today in Venezuela, in our country," he said later in the evening. Rosales supporters maintained that they have to be vigilant and claimed that the CNE is biased in favour of Chavez. In the 2005 legislative elections, the opposition withdrew all of their candidates alleging that the CNE was acting partially towards the incumbent President Chavez and his government. This handed Chavez and his sympathizers all 167 seats in congress. The CNE declared the official close of all polls just before 7 pm (2300 GMT) since some had remained open to accommodate those still in the queue. "We officially declare that the act of voting, as is stated in the Suffrage and Political Participation Law (of Venezuela) has culminated," stated the head of the organization, Tibisay Lucena. This should have marked the end of activity at polling stations. However, a protest broke out at one polling station where opposition supporters claimed that a voting machine was being illegally removed. Protesters tried to storm into the centre, but were kept out by the military responsible for the security of the polling station and the workers.

ITN Source | December 4, 2006

Tags:. .stations. .mobilize. .machine. .however. .camp