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China model can save Venezuela's embattled project

By Heiko Khoo: 0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 19, 2013

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Following the death of Hugo Chávez on March 5, 2013, last Sunday's presidential election in Venezuela produced a narrow victory for the Socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro. The final vote was much closer than expected. President Maduro won 50.8 percent of the vote against 49.0 percent for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles. However, instead of graciously accepting his narrow defeat, Capriles claimed the vote was rigged and used private television stations to incite bloodshed and violence. Opposition social media campaigns show false images of dumped ballot papers, and mobile phone recordings of frenzied oppositionists shouting at soldiers. This is supposed to constitute proof of fraud! On Tuesday the opposition called for a general strike, which failed to materialize, but some of their supporters took to rampaging though the streets. They set fire to 18 public heath centers and three low-cost food markets, and they attacked buildings of the ruling Socialist Party and public television stations. Seven people were killed in the violence.

Nicolas Maduro was sworn in by the National Assembly Friday as Venezuela's acting president on March 8 after the State funeral of the late president Hugo Chavez. [Xinhua/Presidency of Venezuela]

Venezuela's electronic voting system is scrupulously transparent and fraud proof. It combines finger print recognition, identity card checks, electronic voting and paper records. Compare this with Britain, where there are no identity checks or fingerprinting, and literally anyone can go to a polling booth and vote, as long as they know the correct name and address of a registered elector!

If the Venezuelan opposition wishes to challenge the legitimacy of Sunday's presidential vote, they have twenty working days to take their complaints to the National Electoral Council (CNE) or the Supreme Court. But instead of using constitutional channels they immediately embarked on a hysterical campaign of civil disobedience, violence and bloodshed. The real truth is that the opposition is not interested in verifying the results of the election. It knows that the process was transparent, despite the close result, and is using its electoral advance as a launching pad for an attempted coup d'état with the intent of overthrowing the democratic system and ending the socialist road chosen by the majority.

China, Russia, Latin America's governments and most governments around the world recognized President Maduro's election victory. However, the self-proclaimed world champions of democracy, the United States and the European Union, are in only favour of democracy as long as it serves their interests. So they support the campaign of the Venezuelan opposition to bring a halt to the country's socialist experiment.

President Maduro would be justified in breaking off diplomatic relations with all countries involved in this blatant campaign of imperialist interference. He is correct to ban opposition demonstrations which aim to foster an escalation of violence. The National Militia should be mobilized to maintain peace on the streets, protect public property, and defend the election result, the constitution, and the revolution.

It should be remembered that in April 2002, the United States and the Venezuelan opposition (including Capriles) orchestrated a coup d'état against former President Hugo Chávez. It was an uprising of the masses that defeated that counter-revolution.

It is likely that the opposition's attempt to overturn the election result by force will be defeated in the next few days. Venezuela's petit-bourgeoisie has a tradition of hysterical behaviour when they fail to get their way. But when they are faced with the forceful, decisive and unified action of the revolutionary masses, they scatter like so much human dust.

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