VENEZUELA'S ELECTORAL COUNCIL WOBBLING TOWARD THE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 002251

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD
STATE PASS USAID FOR DCHA/OTI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/12/2014
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM VE
SUBJECT: VENEZUELA'S ELECTORAL COUNCIL WOBBLING TOWARD THE
RECALL REFERENDUM

REF: A. CARACAS 2108


B. CARACAS 2201

C. CARACAS 2207

Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, for R
easons 1.4(b) and (d).

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Summary
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1. (C) The National Electoral Council (CNE) continued
preparations for the August 15 recall referendum against
President Hugo Chavez. Citing logistical difficulties, the
CNE decided July 13 not to expand the number of voting
centers, primarily in poor neighborhoods, as contemplated
previously. The CNE board reportedly approved invitations
for international observers, but as of July 15 no invitations
had been issued. According to a contractor for the
Smartmatic consortium supplying election machines, CNE
officials tried to take over operation of parts of the
automated voting system, which will be tested in a nationwide
simulation July 18. End summary.

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CNE Closes Voting Center Lists, Agrees On Observers
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2. (C) The National Electoral Council (CNE) announced July 13
it would not add 1000 voting centers to poor areas or
reconfigure voting table distribution in an effort to
increase voting there as previously contemplated. CNE
Director Jorge Rodriguez said the change would have required
the redistribution of two million voters, which would have
been too hard to do before the August 15 presidential recall
referendum. With the list of voting centers finalized, the
Smartmatic consortium can now finish wiring the existing
voting centers for the automated voting system. Smartmatic
is still waiting for the CNE to give them the numbers of
voters registered at each of the 19,200 electoral tables so
the voting machines can be programmed.


3. (C) The CNE approved on July 14 the list of international
observers for the referendum. The list reportedly contains
47 organizations and 17 international personalities who will
participate, including Nobel Prize winners Nelson Mandela,
Mikhail Gorbachev, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Rigoberta Menchu,
and Joseph Stiglitz. Carter Center representative Edgardo
Mimica told poloff July 15 they still had not received the
formal invitation from the CNE. He said CNE officials told
him "maybe next week." Pro-Chavez CNE Director Oscar
Battaglini said in a press interview that the Carter Center
and OAS would be invited, but added they must accept the
sovereignty of the CNE and the conditions the CNE has for
observer missions. He said in no case would an observer be
permitted to make public statements or contradict a decision
by the CNE like the OAS and Carter Center had done in the
past. State television director Vladimir Villegas told
Charge July 13 that OAS and Carter Center would be invited --
but that the GOV really wanted an additional observer
presence.

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Simulation Set For July 18
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4. (U) The CNE announced it would hold a referendum
simulation July 18 to test the automated voting system and
the fingerprint capture system. The test will use 4,768
voting machines the state capitals and major cities. Twenty
fingerprint machines will be tested in Caracas and a handful
of states. CNE Alternate Director Tibisay Lucena told
reporters July 13 that international observers would be
invited to watch the simulation (Note: Though the OAS and
CNE have not been formally invited, other international
observers have been visiting the CNE, such as representatives
of the Andean Electoral Council, the Ecuadorian electoral
authority, and CAPEL, the regional electoral organization


located in Costa Rica.)

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Mejias Gives Testimony About Registry
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5. (U) Pro-opposition CNE Director Sobella Mejias complied
with a summons to be interviewed July 13 in the Attorney
General's office (Fiscalia General). Rodriguez filed a
complaint in June alleging Mejias, in her capacity as head of
the CNE's electoral registry commission, had failed to remove
more than 50,000 deceased persons from the registry prior to
the signature appeals drive. Mejias spent six hours with
prosecutors, with delays caused by errors in the official
complaint that required correcting. Pro-opposition Director
Ezequiel Zamora told reporters later that it is odd that the
Attorney General chose to follow up on this complaint when
there are thousands of others that are not addressed.
Rodriguez is scheduled to give testimony July 16.

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CNE Signs With Smartmatic, But Not Without Wrinkles
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6. (C) The CNE signed on July 14 the $27 million service
contract with the Smartmatic consortium for the automated
electoral system. Additionally, Smartmatic contractor Jorge
Tirado told poloff July 12 the CNE had sought to replace the
8,000 CANTV voting machine operators with CNE personnel. The
Smartmatic consortium refused citing the necessity to have
its own trained people on the ground during the referendum.
Tirado said a compromise had been worked out that would allow
the CNE to have 8,000 workers watching the 8,000 CANTV
operators, and inform poll workers of any irregularities with
the voting machines. Tirado also said a group of 32 software
professors from public universities continued to audit a
portion of Smartmatic's software codes.

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Comment
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7. (C) International observation continues to be the Chavez's
Achilles' heel, so we can expect the CNE to continue to
foot-drag over invitations to respectable entities like the
OAS and Carter Center while they showboat other so-called
observers like the Andean Electoral Council or Rigoberta
Menchu. Each day that passes without the OAS and Carter
Center observer missions on the ground erodes the
effectiveness of international observation and, hence, the
transparency of the referendum.

McFarland


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2004CARACA02251 - CONFIDENTIAL