2013 Early Venezuela Presidential Election

[ag]

Maduro is very weak. He almost lost Barinas (Chavez home province). He'll need to do many things to prevent a recall in 2016. In 2018, candidate should be someone linked to Chavez, like Adam Chavez or Jorge Arreaza.

If, that is, he is still in Miraflores by 2016. Too weak - he will be replaced by somebody inside the regime well before the elections.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

That's the whole problem. Chavez, unlike Lula for example, did not raise a successor. So when he died, the presidency went to a random sidekick who happened to be his current Vice President. Despite his health, he acted like he's President for life with many years to go.

[RogueBeaver]

7 people killed, 135 arrested. Cabello making noise about legal action against Capriles. If it gets uglier then the military will deploy en masse IMO.

Kalwejt: Yeah, Chavez said many times he wanted to be President till 2030.

[RogueBeaver]

Maduro: No oppo march, "time for a tough hand."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/uk-venezuela-election-march-idUKBRE93F0Y420130416

[Marokai Backbeat]

Maduro: No oppo march, "time for a tough hand."

Always great words to hear out of a recently elected leader.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Maduro: No oppo march, "time for a tough hand."

Always great words to hear out of a recently elected leader.

You can't be serious...

[Marokai Backbeat]

I was being sarcastic, Antonio.

I don't support Maduro.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I was being sarcastic, Antonio.

I don't support Maduro.

Oh, sorry.

[RogueBeaver]

Maduro's taken over the airwaves. Cadena. Capriles was supposed to give a presser with intl  media.

[RogueBeaver]

Maduro saying the US is plotting against him, said that money would be cut off from communities who disn't support him, Capriles is a killer. Chavista mobs are attacking opposition buildings. No money to Miranda.

Hmm... is an autocoup next?

[RogueBeaver]

Said the opposition won't be allowed to march in Caracas... I assume the military will be out in full force.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Well this is a disaster.

[RogueBeaver]

Well this is a disaster.

Also said that he wouldn't recognize governors who wouldn't recognize him. He had a shadow guv in Miranda pre-election... would he try and forcibly take over the state government? Or at least make its operation impossible? (Federal money's already gone) No one knows.

[Peter the Lefty]

Maduro: No oppo march, "time for a tough hand."

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/16/uk-venezuela-election-march-idUKBRE93F0Y420130416

Holy sh*t.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think even Chavez would've gone this far off the deep end.

[RogueBeaver]

If the opposition marches in Caracas tomorrow and Chavistas are also there... this could get very ugly very quickly. The question isn't whether the military will use force, since they already have (non-lethal for now), but how much.

[RogueBeaver]

Capriles called off tomorrow's march.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Well this is a disaster.

[Niemeyerite]

So, this means Chávez was the moderate in the Government.

[Knives]

Maduro won fair and square, the others a just sooks.

[Peter the Lefty]

Maduro won fair and square, the others a just sooks.

Nevermind the fact that he's trying to prevent demonstrations that challenge it? 

[Peter the Lefty]

Look, Capriles is a scumbag, there's no question of that.  Is it likely that he'll renege on his promises to keep Chavez's social programs in place and enact fully and uncompromisingly neoliberal policies?  Yes.  But when a the military starts to intervene after videos show government party workers doing suspicious things, and the "winner" starts to abuse his power to quell street demos, democracy must come first.  Thankfully, it does look like there's a non-Chavismo left there, if a tiny one.  Hopefully, if Maduro continues to be a clown throughout his presidency, people will start to turn to them.  After Capriles cruises to a victory in 2018, hopefully we can see someone from a party like Avadanza Progresista, or the Movement for Socialism, the Radical Cause, or some alliance of them.  I'm dreaming, I know.

[ag]

Maduro won fair and square, the others a just sooks.

Square - might be. Fair - that's hard to sustain.
Unless the opposition presents enough evidence in the next few days that in a substantial number of polls the results were manipulated/falsified (along with a sufficiently clear explanation of how it was done), I will have to accept the results of the vote count showing Maduro's victory. In other words, I will accept that on the election day, Maduro obtained more votes than Capriles, without resorting to outright manipulation of the count.
Since Capriles participated in the process, that, in my view, would make Maduro's election reasonably legitimate. However, a fair election it was not - the entire process was heavily stacked in favor of the government.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Look, Capriles is a scumbag, there's no question of that.  Is it likely that he'll renege on his promises to keep Chavez's social programs in place and enact fully and uncompromisingly neoliberal policies?  Yes.  But when a the military starts to intervene after videos show government party workers doing suspicious things, and the "winner" starts to abuse his power to quell street demos, democracy must come first.  Thankfully, it does look like there's a non-Chavismo left there, if a tiny one.  Hopefully, if Maduro continues to be a clown throughout his presidency, people will start to turn to them.  After Capriles cruises to a victory in 2018, hopefully we can see someone from a party like Avadanza Progresista, or the Movement for Socialism, the Radical Cause, or some alliance of them.  I'm dreaming, I know.

Thanks for reminding those who are getting wet pants over Capriles (and I'm not thinking about rightist posters right now), what scum he really is.

I really hope Maduro and the military guys come to their senses.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Well this is a disaster.

Also said that he wouldn't recognize governors who wouldn't recognize him.

In this one I stand with Maduro. As much as we may criticize him, he won the election and Governors refusing to recognize elected President is not a tolerable situation.

[ag]

In this one I stand with Maduro. As much as we may criticize him, he won the election and Governors refusing to recognize elected President is not a tolerable situation.

Well, you will then be delighted to know that Bohdan the Hairy has just announced that MP's, who do not recognize Maduro, will not be allowed to speak in the National Assambley. I guess, the next step will be to deny those citizens, who do not recognize Maduro the right to vote in the consequent elections.