Oil-rich Venezuela to hold third nationwide elections this year amid tight security

During the weekend, Venezuela, like India, will be holding an important election that will help the countries to reaffirm the support of their peoples in the democratic process.

In Venezuela, which has been facing US’ economic sanctions, the weekend elections for selection of mayors on Sunday will be the third voting exercise this year. Nearly three lakh security personnel will be manning the polling booths in Sunday’s vote, which will see participation of 4,800 candidates.

Significantly, 18 out of 22 opposition parties that form the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) will be participating in the election, which will the third nationwide election this year and 24th since 1999. International critics of Venezuela’s electoral system, most prominently US President Donald Trump, deliberately ignore Venezuela’s vibrant electoral process when they attack the country’s politicians and its democratically elected leader, Nicolas Maduro. The voting system that Trump criticizes so vociferously was praised by former US President Jimmy Carter.

This time around, 1,600 international observers will also be monitoring the vote in Venezuela which would lend it further transparency.

The vote will be the third nationwide election in 2017. The first one was the National Constituent Assembly Elections, on July 30th, which saw unfortunate and never seen before events related to heinous violence aimed at discouraging voters to participate, overlooking the fact that democracy is a win-win situation for all the participants, as each election, each successful exercise of the right-to-vote, implies a consolidation of the political, social and cultural stability of a country. The second election was held on October 15th, to vote for Governors. At that time, the “Venezuelan IEC” (The CNE), the General Prosecutor and the Ministry of Defense all worked together, with deeper coordination, to ensure the right of Venezuelans to vote in a free-of-violence environment.

For the municipal elections on December 10th, security has been tightly strengthened in order to deter and impede any internal or external agent to stain or sabotage our so valued source of pride, which is the Venezuelan voting system. As a side note, questioning the Venezuelan voting system, in my personal opinion, is totally out of discussion and positive references are more than abundant on the internet and easily verifiable.

To make that successfully happen, the Venezuelan Minister for Defense, Vladimir Padrino, confirmed the deployment of 1,15,000 troops, and activated the national security plan (The Republic Plan), whereby 1,40,000 members of citizen security bodies will also participate, which will be placed under the command of the Operational Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Force. The Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab also confirmed the deployment of 884 state prosecutors across the country.

The 1,600 International Observers have already arrived in Venezuela and have been accredited by the National Electoral Council (CNE). Among the group of observers, are the specialists of the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA), constituted by former presidents and magistrates of electoral bodies of Latin America, who already enjoy recognition in the validation of the majority of the 22 elections held in the country in the last 18 years. All this ratified the commitment to guarantee the right to suffrage under the core concept that Municipal Elections 2017 are a genuine means to strengthen democracy.

In that sense, without a doubt, a healthy political and social situation is the best growth medium for a robust and successful economy which is of mutual interest for India and Venezuela.

(Augusto Montiel is the Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to India).

(The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the National Herald).