(Capriles) Venezuelan candidate demands recount (Maduro won)

[Judi Lynn]

47. Just read something tonight related, from PBS Newshour.

an interview with Mark Weisbrot:

ANALYSIS AIR DATE: April 15, 2013

Assessing U.S.-Venezuela Relations After Very Close Election Favors Maduro

~snip~
One is that this is probably the most important target for regime change from the United States government. And, two, it has 500 billion barrels of oil approximately. And those two things are reeled. And I think that's why we're having this.

Let's face it. In 2006, there was an election in Mexico where Calderon won by 0.6 percent, about a third of the margin that Maduro had. And what did the U.S. government do? They congratulated him before there was any kind of even announcement or official announcement that he won. And then they organized an international campaign to legitimate his election.

And they supported them when they not only refused a recount, but refused to even divulge ...

RAY SUAREZ: Absent American congratulations or not, what does Venezuelan law say about whether or not Capriles can get a recount? Is he likely to get one?

MARK WEISBROT: Oh, he doesn't have any entitlement to a recount.

And you already have -- the Venezuelan system is very secure. That's why Jimmy Carter called it the best in the -- electoral process in the world. They already audited 54 percent of the votes. Statistically, they do that right there. They take -- you know, there's two copies of every vote. You push a touch-screen. You get a receipt. You get to look at it. You put it in a ballot box.

So, unlike our system, where we don't really know who won when it's a close election, they know. They have 50 -- I mean, they take a random selection of 54 percent for an audit. And they look at the machine and they make sure it counts up with the ballot and they do it in front of the opposition witnesses. And that's already been done.

More:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/latin_america/jan-june13/venezuela2_04-15.html