TWO CHAVISTAS ELECTED AS NEW "INDEPENDENT" CNE RECTORS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 001547 SIPDIS NOFORN HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD DEPARTMENT PASS TO AID/OTI AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY BRIDGETOWN PASS TO AMEMBASSY GRENADA AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PASS TO AMCONSUL QUEBEC AMEMBASSY BRASILIA PASS TO AMCONSUL RECIFE E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/12/11 TAGS: PGOV KDEM VE SUBJECT: TWO CHAVISTAS ELECTED AS NEW "INDEPENDENT" CNE RECTORS CLASSIFIED BY: Robin D. Meyer, Political Counselor, DOS, POL; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) Summary: The National Assembly (AN) selected two new rectors to the five-person committee that oversees the National Electoral Council (CNE),replacing the two outgoing Chavista rectors with two more of the party faithful. Incoming rectors Socorro Hernandez and Tania D'Amelio, respectively, have served as the Minister of Telecommunications and as an AN Deputy from Chavez's United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) - a violation of the Venezuelan Constitution's requirement that rectors have no party ties. The political opposition and civil society claim to be seeking redress from the Supreme Court (TSJ),but it is virtually assured that their calls will go unheeded. Current CNE President Tibisay Lucena will continue as CNE President. The sole politically independent rector, Vicente Diaz, may face even greater marginalization due to the new picks. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Socorro Hernandez and Tania D'Amelio were sworn into their new seven-year posts as CNE rectors on December 3, replacing outgoing CNE rectors Janeth Hernandez and German Yepez, whose terms expired over a month ago. AN President Cilia Flores also swore in their four substitutes ("suplentes"): judicial consultant Andres Eloy Brito; AN Secretary Ivan Zerpa; TSJ administrative manager Abdon Hernandez; and former judicial consultant to the Ministry of Infrastructure Gustavo Guevara Sifontes. The following day, Tibisay Lucena was reelected president of the CNE by an internal vote among the five rectors. Sandra Oblitas was elected as CNE Vice President, and will continue to head the Civil and Electoral Registration Commission. The only rector considered to be independent, Vicente Diaz remains the head of the Political Participation and Financing Commission. Lucena held a press conference December 4 to confirm that AN elections would be held on September 26, 2010, and pledged that balloting to elect 13 mayors and the Governor of Amazonas would occur at the end of 2010. -------------- RECTORS' TIES TO CHAVISMO -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Opposition parties and civil society reacted swiftly to the rectors' selection, arguing that their political ties to Chavismo violate the Constitution. Articles 294 and 296 stipulate that "the CNE will be comprised of five people not linked to organizations with political ends" so as to ensure the institution's political autonomy. PSUV AN Deputy Alfredo Murga, who was a member of the AN's nominee committee, pledged November 27 that any candidates for CNE rector with party links had renounced their membership. The NGO Sumate issued a communique December 1 criticizing the picks as "unconstitutional and illegal" due to their ties to the PSUV, and expressed their hope that the Supreme Court's Political-Administrative Chamber would "rescue" Venezuela's legal and electoral systems by throwing out the nominations. ¶4. (SBU) Although the new CNE picks may have renounced their PSUV membership, both have long-standing ties to the central government. Soccoro Hernandez served as Minister of Telecommunications and Information from January 2008 to May 2009, and she is rumored to be close to Libertador municipality Mayor (and former CNE head) Jorge Rodriguez. Before her Cabinet appointment, Hernandez served as the head of the state-owned telecommunications company (CANTV) since May 2007. Local press report that she had run as a delegate for the Capital District for the PSUV party congress that began in November 2009. (Comment: The National Democratic Institute's representative in Caracas told Polcouns on December 1 that Hernandez, despite her Chavista credentials, had a good, professional relationship with the NGO electoral wachdog, "Ojo Electoral." End Comment.) CARACAS 00001547 002 OF 002 ¶5. (SBU) D'Amelio has served as a PSUV AN Deputy representing Vargas State since 2005, and as a member of the Permanent Committee on Interior Politics, Justice, Human Rights, and Constitutional Guarantees. She has also been a member of the Sub-Committee for Citizen Security and the Inter-Parliamentary Venezuela-Italy Friendship Group. Local press report that D'Amelio has been involved previously in PSUV get-out-the-vote electoral patrols ("patrullas"). (Comment: While the Carter Center's representative in Caracas also told Polcouns that Hernandez was a "moderate," he characterized D'Amelio as a radical Chavista. End Comment.) Of the four new CNE substitutes, Zerpa and Guevara are rumored to be close to both AN President Cilia Flores and Minister of Public Works Diosdado Cabello. Abdon Hernandez and Brito, in turn, allegedly are closely aligned with the PSUV's electoral coordinator, AN Deputy Francisco Ameliach. Sumate's statement alleged that Guevara and Abdon Hernandez appeared in the list of PSUV members for the party's primary elections in June 2008. -------------- -------------- DIAZ FACING EVEN GREATER MARGINALIZATION? -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) Vicente Diaz remains the sole politically independent rector of the CNE, but he may have lost what leverage he enjoyed as the "bridge" between the other four rectors who were split into two feuding factions (Reftel). He publicly criticized the picks as "unfortunate" and warned about the impact of their selection on the CNE's credibility as an institution. While Diaz was careful to caveat that he did not personally know either Hernandez or D'Amelio, his public criticisms are unlikely to engender goodwill among his new colleagues. Local press speculate that Diaz may also lose what control he had over the CNE's Political Participation and Financing Commission, which he will continue to head. Previously, most of the votes on the three-member commission had split two-to-one with Diaz and substitute Luis Salamanca voting together, and outgoing CNE Rector German Yepez voting against. Salamanca and Yepez will both be replaced with, respectively, one of the new substitutes and rectors - all of whom are likely to side against Diaz on any issue with political implications. Diaz also lost his bid to serve as CNE Vice President, a position created in 2003 by the Supreme Court (TSJ) to serve as a counterweight against the presidency. Nevertheless, Diaz pledged December 3 to remain "alert" and to continue acting to guarantee the transparency of the CNE. -------------- COMMENT -------------- ¶7. (C) In practical terms, the CNE probably will not change course dramatically as a result of the election of two new Chavista rectors. Diaz will face challenges in negotiating with the new members of his committee, but may still be able to exploit the internal divisions within Chavismo that have resulted from the ongoing power struggle between Jorge Rodriguez and Diosdado Cabello. If the opposition focuses excessively on the unconstitutionality of the new rectors, they also run the risk of undercutting the credibility of the CNE - which is still widely regarded as at least technically capable - and generating voter apathy in the run-up to AN elections in 2010. End Comment. DUDDY