US embassy cable - 05CARACAS1286

C O N F I D E N T I A L  CARACAS 001286 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
NSC FOR CBARTON 
USCINCSO ALSO FOR POLAD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2014 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, KDEM, VE 
SUBJECT: CHAVEZ'S MVR PARTY: PRIMARIES FOR LOCAL ELECTIONS 
 
 
Classified By: Abelardo A. Arias, Political Counselor, for Reason 1.4(d 
) 
 
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Summary 
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1. (U) President Hugo Chavez's Movimiento Quinta Republica 
(MVR) held the first Venezuelan primaries April 10 to elect 
candidates for the August 7 parochial board and local 
councilmen elections.  Delays and disagreements caused the 
postponement of the contests by several days in Zulia, 
Anzoategui and Carabobo States.  MVR leaders named candidates 
from other pro-Chavez parties that had agreed to an alliance 
to some positions where MVR candidates had won primaries, 
sparking unusual protests by MVR members in Caracas and a 
petition before the Supreme Court.  Despite the delays, 
accusations of fraud, and public divisions among local 
officials and members of the party, MVR officials said they 
were pleased with the process as a precedent.  End Summary. 
 
2. (U) President Hugo Chavez's Movimiento Quinta Republica 
(MVR) held primaries April 10 to elect candidates for the 
August 7 parochial board and local councilmen elections.  The 
MVR's Electoral Commission, not Venezuela's National 
Electoral Commission (CNE), organized 2,400 voting centers to 
be open from 8 am to 6 pm.  During the first primaries ever 
held in Venezuela, 19,632 MVR candidates competed for 5,618 
electoral positions.  MVR officials postponed the primaries 
originally scheduled for April 3 in every state but Zulia on 
April 1 because of delays delivering electoral material.  On 
April 10, the MVR's Director of the National Tactical Command 
Willian Lara said that in over 80 percent of the centers, the 
process was running smoothly.  However, he extended voting in 
many centers until the last person in line voted, and in some 
cases until April 11, because of long delays (5-10 hours) in 
opening.  In Zulia, Anzoategui, Carabobo, Falcon and Monagas 
States, the MVR postponed the primaries until April 13 
because of extensive delays in receiving electoral material. 
In some locations, delays continued beyond April 13. 
 
3. (U) Despite setbacks, MVR officials said they would 
announce and submit final results to the CNE before the 
deadline for candidate nominations April 15 (subsequently 
extended by the CNE until midnight, April 18.  On April 20, 
CNE President Jorge Rodriguez told the press more than 64,000 
nominations had been received, and on April 21 he announced 
that almost 50,000 had been accepted by the CNE.  (Note: 
Rodriguez did not give a breakdown of the nominations by 
party.  Presumably, this total includes candidate nominations 
from those opposition parties that will be participating in 
the elections.) 
 
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It's Not So Bad... 
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4. (U) MVR Electoral Commission representative Hector Davila 
defended the process saying only 5 percent of the voting 
centers delayed primaries past April 10, and the total 
abstention rate was between 20-25 percent despite problems. 
Another member of the national MVR Electoral Commission 
estimated a 30-40 percent abstention rate on April 15.  Most 
of the delays, Davila asserted, were because there were 
mistakes on the ballots, which made it necessary to reprint 
them at the last minute.  Also, he said, MVR members were 
registered in parishes that corresponded to the CNE's 
electoral registry, which did not match the MVR's, so there 
was confusion about where people should vote.  Overall, the 
local and national MVR leadership dismissed accusations of 
fraud and intentional delays. While the process did not run 
as smoothly as hoped, Lara noted April 13, it was the first 
primary the MVR had ever held, and MVR officials would ensure 
that it expressed the will of the people. 
 
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Sharing the Spoils 
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5. (U) In some locations, the MVR put forward candidates of 
other pro-Chavez parties who united with it in late March, 
replacing winners of the MVR primaries.  The appointments 
angered some MVR members who protested in Caracas April 19, 
accusing Libertador municipal mayor Freddy Bernal of 
replacing primary winners with allied candidates for personal 
gain.  On April 21, some local MVR officials submitted a 
 
request to the Supreme Court to nullify the nominations.  In 
a press release April 21, Lara defended the substitutions 
saying they were necessary to preserve the unity of 
revolutionary factions.  On April 22, MVR National Director 
Francisco Ameliach promised "severe sanctions" against MVR 
leaders who had led protests against candidates nominated by 
appointment rather than through the primaries. 
 
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Delays and Allegations of Fraud 
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6. (U) Accusations of fraud levied against local and regional 
MVR electoral officials plagued the primary process.  In 
Zulia State April 6, according to press reports, MVR members 
denounced preferential treatment for some candidates and 
accused local MVR officials of changing voting centers and 
deleting more than 4,000 people from the registries to ensure 
the candidates they supported won.  In Barinas State, a local 
MVR election official accused members of the MVR, calling 
themselves the Dignity Team, of kidnapping him for 12 hours 
on April 18.  Another MVR official accused the same group of 
burning down the Barinas MVR headquarters on April 19.  In 
Nueva Esparta, the MVR's Regional Tactical Command suspended 
a member of the regional electoral commission for 
partisanship and "wrongdoing." 
 
7. (C) Carabobo State's regional coordinator Luis Medina told 
PolOff April 21 that the experience was difficult because it 
was a first. However, as people became accustomed to 
"democratization" (the primary process), they would be more 
patient and less likely to jump to conclusions, accusations 
or protests.  Archbishop Baltazar Porras told PolCouns that 
in Merida, where he resides, the MVR mayor had lamented to 
him that the state's MVR governor "had taken" all the 
nominations, depriving him of expected political patronage. 
 
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Comment 
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8. (C) While not trouble-free, the MVR primaries are a 
"first" which Chavez supporters will tout as credentials of 
their commitment to democracy in contrast to whatever process 
the opposition parties have used to pick their candidates. 
For some Chavez supporters, these primaries were indeed an 
end to Chavez's hand-picked candidates, although rumblings of 
fraud, obvious favoritism, personal gain and division marred 
the process.  The primaries follow Chavez's Road Map for the 
Revolution, announced in December 2004, by increasing the 
organization and participation of his grassroots supporters. 
The National Electoral Council, which by law is charged with 
the supervision of all election related matters, was 
noticeably absent from the process in contrast to its 
assertion that it must watch over the Venezeulan Workers' 
Confederation elections. 
Brownfield 
 
 
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      2005CARACA01286 - CONFIDENTIAL