Organization of American States Vote Is Tied 17-17 (Update1)

[bemildred]

April 11 (Bloomberg) -- The election of a new Secretary- General of the Organization of American States was tied by a vote of 17 to 17 in the first and second rounds of voting.

Chile's Interior Minister Jose Insulza, 61, was tied with Ernesto Derbez, 58, the former foreign minister of Mexico and a former World Bank official. Insulza has the support of most of the Caribbean Community and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

Bloomberg

[Renew Deal]

1. So what's the tie breaker?

Anyone up on OAS rules? ;)

[Robbien]

2. So this was Bush's fall back position, a tie to keep the position vacant

and the OAS powerless.

Well, there is still the re-vote this afternoon. Wonder if anyone will switch sides. Doubt it, unless Bush can buy another vote.

[Renew Deal]

3. Is that what will happen?

[Robbien]

4. Yes, if this afternoon's vote is still tied

They go back to the beginning and open up the slate of candidates and later in the year another vote is taken. Meanwhile the OAS will be without a leader and will not be a powerful force.

[hector459]

5. I smell a voting rat somewhere.

You just know we are paying through the nose to buy these votes.

[Robbien]

6. Update: This afternoon's votes also ended in a tie

New meeting scheduled May 2nd for a new round of voting. One month for BushCo to go around buying votes with a pocketful of our cash.