President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who today signed the campaign election reform (from Wikipedia)

The government today published revised election campaign regulations in the Official Gazette, which control the distribution and allocation of parties’ television and radio campaigns.

Television channels and radio stations will now have to follow regulations in the allocation of political campaigns according to specific time slots and percentage of programming limits. The decree states: “The adverts will be broadcasted between 7am and 1am the following day” during campaign periods.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Chief of Cabinet Juan Manuel Abal Medina, and Minister of the Interior and Transport Florencio Randazzo signed decree 760/2013 today.

Campaign ads will now be issued in four time slots with a specific percentage of airtime for each slot. For television services, 30% of total programming will be comprised of political campaigns between the hours of 7-11am and 4-8pm, whilst 20% will be allocated from 11am-4pm and from 8pm-1am. For radio broadcasting, 20% of airtime will be campaigns from 7-11am and from 11am-4pm, whilst the allocation will increase to 30% during the hours of 4-8pm and 8pm-1am.

Article five of the decree states that television and radio stations “must give 10% of every 12 hours of programming to campaign messages, free of charge, during campaign periods”. For stations with programming of less than 12 hours, “the allocation will be reduced so as not to exceed 10% of the effective emission time”.

These are the regulations which will govern the election campaigns for the upcoming 11th August primary elections, and the 27th October legislative elections, which will see half of the members of the Chamber of Deputies renewed for the 2013-2017 period, and a third of Senate members renewed for the 2013-2019 period.

A Venezuelan court has charged Antonio Rivero, a retired general, with inciting post-election violence in the divided nation.

Authorities believe Rivero was responsible for a wave of violence occurring the day after Nicolas Maduro’s election on 14 April.

Rivero, who was an ally of the former socialist president Hugo Chávez until 2008, was charged with “conspiracy” and “public instigation” at a Caracas court after video evidence showed him helping coordinate protestors in the capital.

“This is part of the persecution the government has carried out, to spread fear,” said opposition leader Henrique Capriles. He also called for Rivero’s release and an end to alleged harassment of his supporters. “If they continue like this, they are going to have to jail eight million Venezuelans,” he added.

Capriles plans to challenge the presidential vote in both the local and international courts, despite the fact that he has not received much support from other Latin American countries.

He has asked for a full vote recount, alleging thousands of irregularities and accusing Maduro of “stealing” the poll. Maduro subsequently called the opposition leader a “fascist” bent on destabilising the OPEC nation.

The President said violence whipped up by the opposition after the vote had included protests outside the home of Tibisay Lucena, head of the election board. The opposition accuses her of taking orders from the ruling Socialist Party.

“Why did they attack her house? Why did the (private) media not denounce this?” Maduro said on Monday. “Sooner rather than later, the feelings of fascist hate will be defeated.”

A Venezuelan voting station. (Source: Flickr Commons)

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has announced it will be carrying out an audit of 100% of the votes in last Sunday’s presidential elections.

Tibisay Lucena, CNE President, made the statement in a nationwide broadcast yesterday evening, after Henrique Capriles and his party formally submitted a request for a full recount on Wednesday. A random audit of 54% of the votes, conducted as a matter of routine after the polls closed on election day, revealed no discrepancies.

This did not prevent Capriles from rejecting the official results, and he is repeatedly demanding a full recount. Protestors also vented their anger around the country after Capriles’ reaction, resulting in several deaths and injuries.

Lucena said: “We will select a sample that will be audited for 10 days and a report of the results will be emitted. This procedure will be repeated every 10 days for 30 days in the presence of witnesses from both camps.” 400 ballot boxes will be audited per day with the start date of the audit being confirmed next week.

Capriles accepted the decision of the CNE and claimed that the recount will reveal the fraudulent nature of the elections. “Sooner of later the truth will come out,” he told local media, “and not only will it come out but it will have real consequences.”

“Our calculations show that it is about 12,000 ballot boxes. We know where the problems are. They are in those 12,000 boxes,” he continued.

Capriles called on his supporters to continue protesting against the government, and called for activities to protest President Nicolas Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony on Friday.

Leaders from across South America met last night to discuss the situation at a special summit of the Union of South American Nations in Lima, before officially recognising Maduro as president. Many of the leaders are in Caracas today to attend Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony.

Rafael Correa (Photo: Santiago Armas)

With Rafael Correa emerging victorious for a third and final term in Sunday’s presidential elections, the leader of the Alianza País party spoke to Argentine newspaper Página 12 about Ecuador becoming part of the Mercosur agreement, their relationship with Argentina, and same-sex marriage. During the interview, he also announced that his party obtained “97 or 98 seats” in the National Assembly, though the final results of the recount are yet to be announced by the National Electoral Council.

In the interview, Correa first discussed the strengthening of ties with Argentina by “further deepening the bilateral relationship” through trade, and agreed with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s condemnation of the “total surrender of our countries at the hands of transnational corporations”. Correa went on to say however that the relationship between the two countries is more than commercial because “with Argentina we have the same political vision”.

Throughout the interview Correa expressed his hope to join Mercosur, and when asked if the dollarisation of Ecuador would hinder the incorporation into the agreement, Correa agreed that it is “an obstacle for any integration process and trade liberalisation”. However, he insisted that “we are very interested in joining Mercosur… and they are very interested in integrating Ecuador”.

Speaking of the impending expiration of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication act (ATPDEA), Correa said, “Andean countries have a responsibility [to join these agreements] because they are the biggest producers of drugs! But the US say nothing of the responsibility they have for consuming them.” He went on to say that this agreement is “a new form of pressure for countries that do not behave according to the mentality of the US”, and that “if [the act is] extended, fine, if not, we will know how to succeed.”

As the interview progressed, Correa was questioned on the topic of same-sex marriage, in which he responded that, “the Constitution says that marriage is an institution between people of a different sex”. Correa said that although “we promote many rights and the non-discrimination of any person for any reason… the Constitution clearly says that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

Finally, when asked if the continuation of his government would mean a less restrictive abortion law, Correa said that, “personally I will not promote any law that goes beyond the two cases that are already covered in the current legislation, in the case of a violation of a woman with intellectual disabilities and in the case of rape, when a child is violated.”

You can read the interview in full here.

An armed attacker at yesterday’s election rally for current Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa left two people dead and four seriously injured.

Held in the town of Quinindé, the rally was in support of the re-election of Correa as part of the political party Alianza País. It was halted when an attacker targeted supporters of Correa, at around 9pm local time. A video of the incident shows a crowd awaiting the arrival of the President when a man armed with a knife stabs members of the crowd seemingly at random before fleeing the scene.

A crowd rallies around President Rafael Correa (Photo courtesy the Presidencia de la República del Ecuador)

The attacker, who has been identified as Jose Ulpiano Micolta Aragon, now remains in custody for questioning, although he has been described by the President as being “in a state of total derangement, who after four hours of questioning still remains incoherent.”

In what has been described by some as an attack on the democratic socialist Alianza País movement, this marks the second violent incident that has occurred during the election campaign, after the kidnapping of right-wing SUMA candidate Mauricio Rodas. However, Correa insists “this is absolutely an isolated incident. This campaign has been characterised as extremely peaceful.”

Correa has since met with the families of those killed in the attacks, and in a statement today said “our support is with the family. The irreparable and terrible loss of life.” Today’s campaign talks have been cancelled, with the regular campaign schedule expected to resume tomorrow.

Quinindé, a town in the province of Esmeraldas in northern Ecuador, was the location of the rally which formed part of the nationwide presidential campaign for the elections due to be held on 17th February 2013.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) in Ecuador informed on Tuesday that 320 international observers will be in charge of the “observance of good electoral practices” during the presidential election, on 17th February.

The observers belong to various international organisations, including The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), The Organisation of American States (OAS), The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), The Arab League, and The African Union.

According to Domingo Paredes, president of the Ecuadorian electoral organ, the CNE did not invite the European Union for reasons of “dignity and principles.”

Minister of foreign affairs, Ricardo Patiño, indicated on Tuesday that the objective of the mission was to encourage the “national and international credibility” of the electoral process.

The CNE explained how the observers would be integrated to the Latin American electoral authorities, “as specialists in election processes.”

The council also informed that the NGO Participacion Ciudadana will participate in the counting of the votes. The CNE itself will also realise its own count.

These transparency-enhancing measures, implemented by the government, come amid speculation over the finances of the incumbent president Rafael Correa, who is running for another term.

The website Bananaleaks.com has been shut down since Monday, after publishing a inquiry which accuses the President of owning two secret bank accounts in Switzerland. Bananaleaks states that “the president has deposited money in these accounts for more than five years.”

According to the Agency Andes, during an interview given the night of the 29th January, Correa affirmed that “he would resign from the presidency if he actually owned bank accounts in Switzerland,” calling the Bananaleaks statement “lies”.

According to a survey published by the company Market on 18th January, the incumbent president of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is clear leader in the electoral race, with 49% of the vote.

In an official referendum called by the Puerto Rican government, 61.82% of Puerto Ricans voted in favour of becoming the United States’ 51st state.

The two other options on the ballot were to maintain their actual status as an unincorporated territory of the United States, or independence; these options respectively got 32.89% and 5.29% of the vote.

Puerto Rico Capitol in San Juan (Wikimedia)

Although the United States Congress must approve any change to Puerto Rico’s status, President Barack Obama has publicly supported the referendum and pledged that he would respect the will of Puerto Ricans if there was a clear majority.

The referendum’s first question was whether Puerto Ricans were satisfied with the current political status of the island, to which 53.83% answered no.

Puerto Rico is officially part of the United States since 1898’s Spanish-American war; up until then, it had been part of Spain’s territory. Since 1917 people born in Puerto Rico are granted United States citizenship but are not allowed to vote unless they are residents of one of the 50 US states.

The status of “unincorporated territory” was granted in 1952 and in the three referendums held since then, in 1967, 1993, and 1998, Puerto Ricans had rejected both independence and full state membership. Puerto Rico’s status has been controversial throughout the 20th century. Despite having restricted rights they have been subject to duties such as military service and drafts, effectively fighting wars started by a congress they had no say in.

Governor Elect Alejandro García Padilla (Wikimedia)

The referendum, in which 2.4m were eligible to vote, was held on the same day that the island voted for its governor, in which Alejandro García Padilla, from the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) won by a narrow margin. Padilla had said in an interview with Efe recently that he was in favour of maintaining the current political status of the island.

Padilla defeated incumbent governor Luis Fortuño from the New Progressive Party (PNP) that has had a difficult term marked by constant conflict with the Puerto Rican trade unions that led to general strike in 2009. Since his election four years ago the outgoing governor has failed to pick up the island’s economy with unemployment at 15%, while an increase in drug trafficking-related violence led to  more than 1,100 deaths in 2011.

Today, Venezuela’s presidential elections will determine if incumbent Hugo Chávez will govern the country for a third term, the completion of which would mark 20 consecutive years in office, or if Henrique Capriles Radonski will inaugurate a new chapter in Venezuelan history. Chávez stands upon a socialist platform of extensive social programmes funded in part by the nationally-run oil industry. Capriles characterises himself as “centre-left” and proposes free-market economic policies as well as social programmes.

The implications for Venezuela’s political future weigh on the minds of its neighbour to the south. Who do Argentines think will win? Who do they favour? What would Chávez’s re-election mean for Argentina? What kind of leader would Capriles be? There are few bland opinions on the matter.

Photos by Athena Feldshon

Alejandra Ariovich, 37, paediatrician, Buenos Aires

Chávez came to power because Venezuela has a history of corrupt presidents who cast aside a very important part of the Venezuelan population. Chávez has made mistakes but he’s also been right. He listened to a sector of the people, made interesting social policies, and on an international level, he’s made important policies within South America. At the moment, Capriles hasn’t thought through a model for the country; he’s only succeeded in opposing Chávez.

Daniel Belzer, 54, systems engineer, Buenos Aires

It seems to me like Latin America is copying [Chávez’s] model, a model that’s died across the world; it died in Cuba; it died in Russia; it died in Germany. They’re copying a model here that doesn’t have any possibility of success. The best thing that could happen to Latin America would be if Chávez loses. Venezuela has the fortune – that Argentina doesn’t: that Chávez has cancer and he doesn’t have much time left. Here, we haven’t been so lucky.

Rafael Mejía, 26, film student, El Salvador

It sucks. The people in Venezuela don’t have freedom because Chávez is a fucked up guy who wants to control his people. If he wins, it will mean the same thing it’s meant for years. Nothing will change. President Kirchner [sic] is becoming like him. From what I’ve heard, she wants a Venezuela/Argentina in which she’ll be president forever and ever. But I think the people are stronger; the masses can overcome him. We need peace!

Juan Fafian, 80, retired shopkeeper, Buenos Aires

Chávez is a very special character. I don’t like him very much; he’s too authoritarian, too crazy. Obviously there’s a big influence – not only an influence, a great agreement – between the government here and the government there. So if Chávez wins I don’t think the situation in Argentina would improve. But if the opposition wins, I think the Argentine government would find itself a little uncomfortable. You’d see a certain lack of trust, as much with him as here.

Esther Rivadeneira, 65, parapsychologist, Buenos Aires

I have all the hope in my heart that the opposition wins and that Chávez doesn’t. Venezuela is a beautiful country, but run by a terrible person. He’s dark. He wants to take control, to move the masses, to divide the poor and the powerful. No, no, no. And Mrs. Kirchner is Chávez’ daughter. If the other candidate wins, us Argentines will be even stronger to fight this woman who wants to run our lives and make her leave. Capriles, Capriles, Capriles, yes, yes, yes!

Patrick Duddy, ex-US Ambassador to Venezuela, released a surprising paper last month outlining a range of measures that could be taken by the United States after Sunday’s elections and warning against potential violence in the country.

Duddy, who was exiled from Venezuela in 2008 for his alleged involvement in a plot to overthrow the Chávez government, gives a range of “plausible” scenarios depending on the outcome of the elections. If there is not a clear win by Chávez or Capriles, or if Chávez becomes too ill to assume the presidency, Duddy predicts “a state of emergency”, with fuel shortages, street violence and the disappearance of basic food items, with businessmen “accused of hoarding”, as well as with both Chavistas and supporters of Capriles entering into violent conflict with one another. He claims “Chavistas will not willingly surrender power and would be willing to provoke violence, orchestrate civil unrest, or engage in various forms of armed resistance to avoid doing so.”

The former Ambassador emphasises the need for a fair and unbiased election, accusing Chávez of attempting to convince voters that a Capriles victory could only be achieved through corrupt means and through “covert US support.” He claims that the United States will be prepared to work with a Chávez government “provided the election is free, fair and constitutional.”

While supporting the “United States’ view that only Venezuelans can solve Venezuela’s political problems”, Duddy recommends several courses of action that the United States could take to remedy any potential “outbreak of violence and/or interruption of democracy”. These measures range from “freezing individual bank accounts of key figures involved or responsible”, suspending visas of those involved and “prohibiting [Venezuelan state] oil sales to the United States” to organising a “coalition of partners” in Europe, the United Nations and Japan to “limit an illegitimate Venezuelan administration’s access to government assets held abroad as well as to the international financial system”.

These worrying assertions from the former Bush-era Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs come as another blow to relations between the two countries. Last year, Venezuela was added to the US list of states that sponsor terrorism and the country was this year damned by Presidential candidate Mitt Romney as “spreading dictatorships and tyranny throughout Latin America”.

President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Vicente Díaz, has claimed that there is no possibility that Sunday’s elections will have fraudulent results due to the fact that all of the voting machines, local councils and vote-counting committees are shielded, anonymous and “bulletproof”.

Díaz stated “I’m sure that both candidates would be happy to accept fair defeat. Whoever loses will accept the results because their technical team will have been there, testing the software and monitoring witnesses involved in the process.”

According to the head of the electoral accompaniment mission of the Union of South American Countries (UNASUR), Carlos Álvarez, there is “not even a small chance of the results being fraudulent”, saying that “Venezuela currently possesses one of the strongest and most technologically advanced electoral systems in the region of Latin America, which ensures transparency, control and vigilance at the polls.”

Alvárez reaffirmed this, explaining that in highly polarised societies such as Venezuela there are frequent accusations of fraud in voting, usually spurred on by the losing political party. This, he says, adds to the notion that developed-country organisations such as those from the US or Europe should observe elections to ensure their accuracy.

International figures have given their support to this issue: Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa affirmed his belief in seeing Sunday’s elections achieve a democratic outcome but warned against a “campaign to create doubts about the electoral result”. Barack Obama also expressed his hopes for “free and just” elections in Venezuela.