| Venezuelan Parliamentary Election, 2005 |
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Venezuela held a parliamentary election on 4 December 2005 . The following elected posts were filled:
BACKGROUND Secrecy of the votes Just weeks before the elections, an Audit was made in presence of the National Electoral Council (CNE), OAS international observers and several Political Parties . During the audit, the opposition claimed that the electoral machines recorded the sequence of the votes, while the fingerprint scanners recorded the information of each voter. Th opposition proved that it was possible to unscramble the information, cross matching the data between the two machines could potentially show the voting details of those who voted. The reconstruction of this data is considered possible, due to the requirement of access to the voting machines and knowledge of the password. As an extra measure of reassurance, the CNE agreed to format the data held on the voting machines as soon as it transmitted its totals to the CNE. {Link without Title} {Link without Title} A few days later, on 29 November , The CNE agreed to remove the fingerprint scanners in order not to discourage potential voters but stands by its claim that the fingerprint scanners are not usable to identify the votes. The same devices were used on the 2004 Recall Referendum , and the State Governors' Elections that same year. {Link without Title} Political parties' withdrawal announcing that they would not be participating in the elections.]] After the audit, the main opposition political parties started considering the possibility of (''Acción Democrática''), COPEI (''Social Christian Party of Venezuela''), Justice First (''Primero Justicia''), Project Venezuela (''Proyecto Venezuela'') and New Time (''Un Nuevo Tiempo''). These political parties represent the majority of the opposition forces in the country. Perez Vivas of COPEI asked the CNE to postpone the day of the polls until the levels of reliability increase. Vice President José Vicente Rangel claimed "they know that they are defeated because they too read the surveys and know that if they participate they will have a poor representation." He also stated that the U.S. Department Of State , through their embassy in Caracas , was responsible for the withdrawals. {Link without Title} The deadline for candidate withdrawal was Saturday, 3 December , at 4:00 pm. The CNE announced that not all of these political parties formally withdrew, meaning that only 10.08% of the candidates were officially out of the elections. {Link without Title} The withdrawals left no significant Right-wing parties in the election. The Left-wing anti-Chavez parties Movement Towards Socialism (''Movimiento al Socialismo''), Red Flag Party (''Partido Bandera Roja'') and Democratic Left (''Izquierda Democrática'') did, however, participate in the election, but won no seats. {Link without Title} RESULTS CNE announced preliminary results that show that the pro-Chávez party . It is estimated that the turnout in the election was about 25% compared to 50 to 60% in previous parliamentary elections (2000 and 2002). [http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-venezuela-election-results.html [http://www.eluniversal.com/2005/12/04/epar_ava_04A640281.shtml] Some suggest that these results are a very important issue in Venezuela, since a two-thirds majority in parliament is needed to change the Constitution . The Fifth Republic Movement now holds a sufficient majority to change the constitution with or without the support of other political parties. [http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051205/w120582.html The opposition and some international observers state that the abstention rate of about 75% demonstrates a deep distrust in the electoral process and the Chávez government. {Link without Title} Government officials claim that the withdrawal of the opposition candidates was a tactic to undermine the vote as undemocratic and was done after seeing their low standing on the polls. OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza criticized the withdrawal despite the National Electoral Council's agreement to the conditions opposition parties demanded ([http://www.oas.org/OASpage/press_releases/press_release.asp?sCodigo=MOE-VE-04 OAS press report]). CNE has not yet released the official results, although according to their website they should have been released by January 3 , 2006 . {Link without Title} INTERNATIONAL PRESS REACTION
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