Ah yes, might have known

There was a leak of Venezuelan "exit poll" numbers before the recall votes were all in. It turns out that the leaked information came from a U.S. source. What a surprise.

But mind you, we are not interfering in Venezuela's democratic process.

From a Venezuela Information Office daily Venezuela News Roundup email:

A U.S. firm's exit poll that said Chávez would lose the recall referendum has landed in the center of a controversy following his resounding victory, AP reports. "Exit Poll Results Show Major Defeat for Chávez," the survey, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, asserted even as Sunday's voting was still on. Chávez captured 59 percent of the vote. The poll has become an issue because the opposition insists it shows the results from the vote itself were fraudulent. The opposition also claims electronic voting machines were rigged, but has provided no evidence. Election officials banned publication or broadcast of any exit polls during the historic vote. But results of the Penn, Schoen & Berland survey were sent out by fax and e-mail to media outlets and opposition offices more than four hours before polls closed. It predicted just the opposite of what happened, saying 59 percent had voted in favor of recalling Chávez. Critics of the exit poll have questioned how it was conducted because officials have said Penn, Schoen & Berland worked used Sumate, a Venezuelan group that helped organize the recall initiative, to do the fieldwork for the poll, election observers said. Roberto Abdul, a Sumate official, acknowledged that at least five exit polls were completed for the opposition, with all pointing to a Chávez victory. Chris Sabatini, senior program officer for the National Endowment for Democracy, defended Sumate as "independent and impartial."

The refusal of opposition leaders to participate in an audit of last Sunday's referendum to oust Chávez was cited in an AP article as a factor contributing to the perception of instability - and therefore higher prices - in oil markets.

After demanding an audit of voting results, representatives of Venezuela's opposition said Wednesday they would not participate in or recognize the review, asserting the audit would fail to detect the deception they insist took place, Juan Forero reports for the New York Times.

...Opposition leaders had promised last week to accept the results of Latin America's first presidential recall referendum if they were certified by international observers, but since Monday, they have stuck with a message of massive fraud. Carter said he had doubts that the exit polls that leaked out Sunday evening claiming a landslide [against - the article says "for" here in an apparent editing error] Chávez were an accurate portrayal of the replies from voters surveyed that day. "No doubt that some of their leaders deliberately distributed this erroneous poll data to build up not only their expectations, but also to influence the people still standing in line," he said.

...Tuesday Carter said monitors would oversee an audit of 150 voting tables to dispel accusations of vote tampering. Wednesday opposition leaders said the audit should not proceed because they had evidence that hundreds of machines had been manipulated to limit yes votes. "We have given the order not to participate," said Enrique Mendoza. "The results of this audit cannot be considered valid to satisfy the opposition's demands."

Nothing short of Chávez' ouster would. That is abundantly clear. They are not interested in the Carter Center or the OAS - both of whom monitored the recall - declarations that the voting was fair and transparent. They are not interested in any audits that might prove the same thing. These people are incredible. But when you realize that they take their cue from and get support from Washington, you can't be surprised.

After demanding an audit of voting results upon failing to oust President Hugo Chávez in a recall referendum, representatives of Venezuela's opposition movement said Wednesday that they would refuse to participate in or recognize the review, asserting that the audit would fail to detect the deception that they insist took place.

NY Times article

Back to the Venezuela News Roundup:

Opposition claims are based largely on surveys of voters by members of Súmate, an antigovernment group funded by the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy. Sumate also conducted a quick count sampling of votes similar to that conducted by the Carter Center and the O.A.S. that also showed the government had won.

Clowns.

But dangerous.

Previous posts on Venezuela
More information on Venezuela