Foreign politics: What do you think of the current situation in Venezuela regarding elections after Chavez’s death?

I think that the opposition has been demanding recounts every election have they not? This one is a little different because the vote tally was closer and the Chavez Charisma is somewhat diminished but, I believe, still enough to ensure his party actually had the victory.
Next election might be a different story; the opposition are, for the most part, the monied elite with much control over many of the media outlets and the cash to buy votes and politicians so they can probably be a powerful political force especially if Maduro cannot keep the people happy the way Chavez did.

I think that Capriles’ efforts are futile. Chavez handpicked Maduro as his successor and that is how this is going to play out. I am surprised the results were as close as they were, from the news reports I heard, I expected Chavez to win in a landslide.

It is nothing more than a struggle to determine what ultimately happens to the PDVSA.

The fact that such an unfair election was so close speaks volumes of the level of discontent people have, in my opinion.

I also find it hilarious that Maduro claims that the (losing) leftist parties in Mexico readily accepted the close results of the 2006 presidential elections, and allowed the winning candidate to govern without protests. That is quite simply a lie.

“The presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Cuba were among the leaders who offered congratulations to Maduro on Monday. But…. a White House spokesman pushed for an audit of the results.” —From a CNN report.
After the 2000 US election, don’t you think the call for an audit from the U.S. as somewhat cynical AND hypocritical?

@bob_ I believe you are right, didn’t Mexico’s leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador call for protests after losing a 2006 election by a razor-thin margin, thus alienating even some of the voters who had backed him?

@rojo I think that the opposition has been demanding recounts every election have they not? No, they haven’t. This is the first time.

The presidents of Argentina, Bolivia and Cuba were among the leaders who offered congratulations to Maduro on Monday. Christina, Evo, and Raul are not representative of democratic nations quite the contrary. They also depend economically from Venezuela and they are looking after their own benefit.

In the Mexico 2006 election, Venezuela was one of the countries who advocated for a vote recount, but it suits them now to oppose the same be done in Venezuela because they know they lost big time.

Bottom line: they stole the election from Henrique Capriles and half of the people of Venezuela.

Supposedly Venezuela has a much better system of verifying the vote than we have here in the US. According to what I have heard, Venezuela audits 54 percent of the ballot boxes. I understand that each electronic voting machine produces a paper receipt (we don’t do or require this) and that these paper receipts go into sealed ballot boxes at the end of the voting day. Fifty-four percent of these ballot boxes are audited in a random sample. I have heard that you really only need 2 to 3 from a statistical point of view to verify results. But this is a concession that was made to the opposition who agreed beforehand to the recount requirements but now they’re calling for a full recount.
I am not saying the refusal of a full recount was fair (I don’t have a dog in this race) and I am always leary of the edicts of those in power but you have a greater chance of a fair election than many.