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Related: About this forumCapriles Falsifies Evidence in Order to Claim Fraud in Venezuela’s Elections
Capriles Falsifies Evidence in Order to Claim Fraud in Venezuelas Elections
Maracaibo, April 17th, 2013 (Venezuelanalysis.com) Opposition leader Henrique Capriles has given falsified evidence to support his claims that there was fraud in Venezuelas presidential elections on Sunday.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the opposition candidate listed several examples that he claimed were evidence of irregularities in the electoral process and in the vote count, and presented a series of slides to national and international media.
However, several of the examples given by Capriles as evidence of fraud are clearly false, as can be seen by consulting the results on the National Electoral Councils (CNE) website.
As one example, Capriles listed three separate voting centers in which he claimed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had gotten much higher results than Hugo Chavez had gotten in the previous presidential elections.
Capriles claimed that this was implausible, since overall Maduro did not get as many total votes as Chavez.
In one voting center in Yaracuy, Maduro got 1000 percent more votes than Chavez did. How can anyone believe that? he said.
However, the results from last years election show that the three voting centers that Capriles gave as examples were cases in which all the votes from that center had not yet been registered in 2012s results when the election was called for Chavez, leading to an extremely low vote count from those centers for both candidates.
In the Yaracuy voting center, for example, a total of only 9 votes out of 75 were registered in 2012s elections, 7 for Hugo Chavez and 2 votes for Henrique Capriles.
However, on Sunday all the votes from this center were registered before the election was called, leading to 73 votes for Nicolas Maduro, and only 6 votes for Henrique Capriles.
The same situation can be seen for the examples Capriles gave in Merida (2012 vs. 2013), and Nueva Esparta (2012 vs. 2013), centers at which there was a very low vote count in 2012.
Given the unusually low vote count in these centers in 2012, the votes for both candidates drastically increases when 2013s results are compared to 2012.
In the Merida voting center, for example, votes for Capriles also increased by nearly 1000 percent, and were also much higher than the number of votes for Chavez from that center in 2012.
Other examples given by Capriles were also fabricated by manipulating the numbers of different vote tallies.
Capriles claimed that in some cases there were more votes than total voters registered at that voting center. However, the only example provided by Capriles is also false.
Capriles said that at a voting center in the state of Trujillo the number of voters for this center was 536, but that a total of 717 votes were tallied. However, CNE's results for this voting center show only 369 votes were tallied, not 717.
Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas explained during a press conference last night that Capriles had erroneously added together the votes from two separate voting tables, but was using the voter rolls from only one of the two tables.
To counter Capriles claims, government officials have pledged to publish online at PSUV's website all of the actual vote tallies from the thousands of voting centers around the country so that the public can see that the official results line up with the individual vote tallies.
Electoral witnesses from the Capriles campaign presumably signed off on all of the vote tallies, as they would have been present at the voting centers at the closing of the polls on Sunday.
The nature of Venezuelas electoral system makes the kind of fraud alleged by Capriles nearly impossible. Witnesses from both sides are present at every voting center around the country, and a random hot audit of 54 percent of the votes is conducted at all of the centers in the presence of all witnesses immediately after the polls close.
The paper receipts that each voter deposits in a sealed box are counted to assure that they line up with the tally from the voting machines, and all witnesses sign the tallies to certify that they witnessed the audit.
However, Capriles claimed yesterday that his witnesses were forcibly ejected, often at gunpoint, from nearly 300 voting centers around the country on Sunday.
No evidence was provided for this claim, and no independent reports of this happening were registered by any major media outlets on the day of the elections.
Pro-Chavez political commentator Mario Silva responded to the claim last night by questioning how this could have happened without anyone noticing.
Do you really believe that hundreds of witnesses could be forcibly removed from the voting centers without anyone saying anything? Why havent any of those witnesses made a denunciation or talked to the media? he said.
Capriles has pledged to turn over all of his evidence of fraud to the National Electoral Council for review, and pledges to continue to demand a recount, or that the election be annulled.
The government has reported that 7 people have been killed so far in the violence that erupted around the country after Capriles claimed the elections were fraudulent.
Published on Apr 17th 2013 at 9.03am
This work is licensed under a Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Creative Commons license
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/8665
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)Just a heads up.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)Catherina
(35,568 posts)Last edited Wed Apr 17, 2013, 12:56 PM - Edit history (1)
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)falsified past participle, past tense of fal·si·fy (Verb)
Verb
Alter (information or evidence) so as to mislead.
Forge or alter fraudulently: "falsified documents".
He didn't falsify anything. He was incorrect about something.
reorg
(3,317 posts)Namely:
is simply a FALSE CLAIM.
Providing false statements as true witness testimony is falsification of evidence.
you think that he knew the correct number, but decided to lie about it, thinking he would get away with it?
Or do you think he just made a mistake?
reorg
(3,317 posts)there is no innocent "mistake".
Yes, of course I think he is deliberately misleading people, the "findings" were apparently presented in an attempt to prolong the "crisis" and to cause unrest. "Millions" of votes should be declared null and void, he declared yesterday in an interview, with a straight face.
Based on findings such as "who believes that Maduro got more votes than Chávez in some polling stations, we have found one where his share increased by 1000 percent!!!!11!" So transparent, but apparently not for some true believers ... Of course, he never believed his complaints would change the election result. But this was going to be attributed to the evil chavista fraudsters.
Tempest
(14,591 posts)How could you get the numbers wrong if a thorough look at them was conducted?
Sounds like he was shooting from the hip and got caught.
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)He probably had a bunch of staffers gathering up the information.
Look, I have totally changed my mind since Sunday night. It seems plainly evident to me that Capriles' own numbers show that he lost. He should shut the fuck up and some months from now put together a dossier of his findings to try to have a better election next time.
I just don't share the opinion that some here seem to have that every single thing Chavistas do is correct and pure of heard and everything the "opposition" does is evil and part of a fascist plot.
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)Why he's not backing down is anyones guess. It seems the most rational explanation (that doesn't involve stupid right wing conspiracy theories) is that in the heat of the campaign he had advisers telling him he won, confirmation bias setting in, young people dancing around the room saying "Look, this isn't right, if you do this math, you got it!" Then he claimed victory and his supporters rallied behind him from there.
Otherwise he should've known better than to go up against the corrupt CNE.
Demeter
(85,373 posts)Just because something isn't a lie does not mean that it isn't deceptive. A liar knows that he is a liar, but one who speaks mere portions of truth in order to deceive is a craftsman of destruction.
The only thing more frustrating than slanderers is those foolish enough to listen to them.
What man ever openly apologizes for slander? It is not so much a feeling of slander as it is that of a massive lie, a misdeed not only to the slandered but also to those manipulated in the process. He has made them all, every one, his enemies, thereupon he is so overwhelmed with guilt that he will deny it until his grave.
― Criss Jami
You must remember, my dear lady, the most important rule of any successful illusion: First, the people must want to believe in it.
― Libba Bray, The Sweet Far Thing
When one with honeyed words but evil mind
Persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.
― Euripides, Orestes
youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.
THE DEVIL'S IN THE DETAILS...AND MORE!
― Aristotle
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Like everywhere else in the world, rich people think they're a law unto themselves and any lies crafted in their web of deception should be accepted as truth by the loathed lowly ones.
Tempest
(14,591 posts)Subtly isn't their strong suits when providing fraudulent evidence.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)with such people in charge.
My head spins to think of the charts, the fabricated facts, the manipulated numbers they would throw at the people to convince them there was no money for social programs.
pa28
(6,145 posts)Sounds like a page out of the Romney/Ryan playbook from the last election.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)Their latest attempt for a Venezuelan Spring is backfiring in a spectacular way.
ocpagu
(1,954 posts)... only appeared after Maduro was proclaimed as the winner and no major incident was reported during the election.
As Silva said:
Do you really believe that hundreds of witnesses could be forcibly removed from the voting centers without anyone saying anything? Why havent any of those witnesses made a denunciation or talked to the media?
Old pictures, old scripts, false claims... more of the same.
Capriles has nothing.
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)Or at least nothing significant.
On the first night he strongly implied that the actas showed that he was ahead, or at least very close. If that was the case then he would have produced them. That is why the OAS has bailed on him and everyone else will bail on him to. He simply was full of shit. It was a close race and there are lots of opposition claims about irregularities but it is nothing material, and Capriles should STFU and accept the results.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)It's no secret I don't like him but even I'm embarrassed for him
joshcryer
(62,269 posts)If the CNE was even remotely credible on this issue at all.
But he definitely fucked up.
naaman fletcher
(7,362 posts)but given the violence and stuff, he should back down NOW. He can always raise the misconduct issues later.
Judi Lynn
(160,515 posts)If they don't cheat, if they don't intimidate, coerce, slander, lie, and far worse, they have no future at all. Never did.
Greedy people who disrespect humanity itself can't possibly get support from the very people they exploit, prey upon, expect to give them their life's blood, their souls so that they can live well above them while holding them in complete contempt.
What's to like? What DO they have you'd want to vote for? Only lies, and far, far worse, if they can't deceive you.
Catherina
(35,568 posts)(in Spanish)
The commentator advises Capriles to use a calculator next time he's going to lie so brazenly.