Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05CARACAS1286
2005-04-28 19:36:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Caracas
Cable title:  

CHAVEZ'S MVR PARTY: PRIMARIES FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KDEM VE 
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281936Z Apr 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001286 

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ'S MVR PARTY: PRIMARIES FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS


Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(d
)

-------
Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L CARACAS 001286

SIPDIS


NSC FOR CBARTON
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM VE
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ'S MVR PARTY: PRIMARIES FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS


Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(d
)

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (U) President Hugo Chavez's Movimiento Quinta Republica
(MVR) held the first Venezuelan primaries April 10 to elect
candidates for the August 7 parochial board and local
councilmen elections. Delays and disagreements caused the
postponement of the contests by several days in Zulia,
Anzoategui and Carabobo States. MVR leaders named candidates
from other pro-Chavez parties that had agreed to an alliance
to some positions where MVR candidates had won primaries,
sparking unusual protests by MVR members in Caracas and a
petition before the Supreme Court. Despite the delays,
accusations of fraud, and public divisions among local
officials and members of the party, MVR officials said they
were pleased with the process as a precedent. End Summary.


2. (U) President Hugo Chavez's Movimiento Quinta Republica
(MVR) held primaries April 10 to elect candidates for the
August 7 parochial board and local councilmen elections. The
MVR's Electoral Commission, not Venezuela's National
Electoral Commission (CNE),organized 2,400 voting centers to
be open from 8 am to 6 pm. During the first primaries ever
held in Venezuela, 19,632 MVR candidates competed for 5,618
electoral positions. MVR officials postponed the primaries
originally scheduled for April 3 in every state but Zulia on
April 1 because of delays delivering electoral material. On
April 10, the MVR's Director of the National Tactical Command
Willian Lara said that in over 80 percent of the centers, the
process was running smoothly. However, he extended voting in
many centers until the last person in line voted, and in some
cases until April 11, because of long delays (5-10 hours) in
opening. In Zulia, Anzoategui, Carabobo, Falcon and Monagas
States, the MVR postponed the primaries until April 13
because of extensive delays in receiving electoral material.
In some locations, delays continued beyond April 13.


3. (U) Despite setbacks, MVR officials said they would
announce and submit final results to the CNE before the
deadline for candidate nominations April 15 (subsequently

extended by the CNE until midnight, April 18. On April 20,
CNE President Jorge Rodriguez told the press more than 64,000
nominations had been received, and on April 21 he announced
that almost 50,000 had been accepted by the CNE. (Note:
Rodriguez did not give a breakdown of the nominations by
party. Presumably, this total includes candidate nominations
from those opposition parties that will be participating in
the elections.)

--------------
It's Not So Bad...
--------------


4. (U) MVR Electoral Commission representative Hector Davila
defended the process saying only 5 percent of the voting
centers delayed primaries past April 10, and the total
abstention rate was between 20-25 percent despite problems.
Another member of the national MVR Electoral Commission
estimated a 30-40 percent abstention rate on April 15. Most
of the delays, Davila asserted, were because there were
mistakes on the ballots, which made it necessary to reprint
them at the last minute. Also, he said, MVR members were
registered in parishes that corresponded to the CNE's
electoral registry, which did not match the MVR's, so there
was confusion about where people should vote. Overall, the
local and national MVR leadership dismissed accusations of
fraud and intentional delays. While the process did not run
as smoothly as hoped, Lara noted April 13, it was the first
primary the MVR had ever held, and MVR officials would ensure
that it expressed the will of the people.

--------------
Sharing the Spoils
--------------


5. (U) In some locations, the MVR put forward candidates of
other pro-Chavez parties who united with it in late March,
replacing winners of the MVR primaries. The appointments
angered some MVR members who protested in Caracas April 19,
accusing Libertador municipal mayor Freddy Bernal of
replacing primary winners with allied candidates for personal
gain. On April 21, some local MVR officials submitted a

request to the Supreme Court to nullify the nominations. In
a press release April 21, Lara defended the substitutions
saying they were necessary to preserve the unity of
revolutionary factions. On April 22, MVR National Director
Francisco Ameliach promised "severe sanctions" against MVR
leaders who had led protests against candidates nominated by
appointment rather than through the primaries.

--------------
Delays and Allegations of Fraud
--------------


6. (U) Accusations of fraud levied against local and regional
MVR electoral officials plagued the primary process. In
Zulia State April 6, according to press reports, MVR members
denounced preferential treatment for some candidates and
accused local MVR officials of changing voting centers and
deleting more than 4,000 people from the registries to ensure
the candidates they supported won. In Barinas State, a local
MVR election official accused members of the MVR, calling
themselves the Dignity Team, of kidnapping him for 12 hours
on April 18. Another MVR official accused the same group of
burning down the Barinas MVR headquarters on April 19. In
Nueva Esparta, the MVR's Regional Tactical Command suspended
a member of the regional electoral commission for
partisanship and "wrongdoing."


7. (C) Carabobo State's regional coordinator Luis Medina told
PolOff April 21 that the experience was difficult because it
was a first. However, as people became accustomed to
"democratization" (the primary process),they would be more
patient and less likely to jump to conclusions, accusations
or protests. Archbishop Baltazar Porras told PolCouns that
in Merida, where he resides, the MVR mayor had lamented to
him that the state's MVR governor "had taken" all the
nominations, depriving him of expected political patronage.

--------------
Comment
--------------


8. (C) While not trouble-free, the MVR primaries are a
"first" which Chavez supporters will tout as credentials of
their commitment to democracy in contrast to whatever process
the opposition parties have used to pick their candidates.
For some Chavez supporters, these primaries were indeed an
end to Chavez's hand-picked candidates, although rumblings of
fraud, obvious favoritism, personal gain and division marred
the process. The primaries follow Chavez's Road Map for the
Revolution, announced in December 2004, by increasing the
organization and participation of his grassroots supporters.
The National Electoral Council, which by law is charged with
the supervision of all election related matters, was
noticeably absent from the process in contrast to its
assertion that it must watch over the Venezeulan Workers'
Confederation elections.
Brownfield


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2005CARACA01286 - CONFIDENTIAL