Brazil Pulls Out of Electoral Mission to Venezuela [View all]
Source: New York Times
CARACAS, Venezuela — Brazil is pulling out of a South American mission to observe crucial legislative elections in Venezuela over what it says a lack of guarantees by the socialist government and its veto of the choice to head the delegation.
Brazil's highest electoral tribunal said Tuesday that a months-long attempt to organize a mission under the auspices of the Union of South American Nations had been frustrated by Venezuela's refusal to accept the group's choice of Brazilian jurist and politician Nelson Jobim to lead the mission.
The decision by Latin America's largest democracy to pull its support comes as pressure is building on President Nicolas Maduro to allow outside observation of what's shaping up to be a hard-fought contest that already has some on both sides talking of fraud by their opponents.
For the first time since the late Hugo Chavez kicked off Venezuela's revolution 16 years ago, the opposition is heavily favored in national polls to win the December 6 election and could seek to leverage a victory to cut short Maduro's term before it ends in 2019. But the government's domination of the airwaves, bigger campaign war chest and a complicated electoral system that gives a bigger voice to rural areas where the opposition has less influence are all likely to make the balloting close.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/10/20/world/americas/ap-lt-venezuela-election-observers.html?_r=0
= new reply since forum marked as read
