Publicado el 09-11-2012
The Coming Venezuelan Elections
There is justified expectation in and outside Venezuela because of the coming general election that will be held on October 7th to elect the president of the republic. The expectation comes from the painful fact that since Hugo Chávez has been president that country does not work as a republic. It can be considered a State, but without the democratic characteristics that a republican system demands.
All those who have closely followed the unfolding of life in Venezuela since Hugo Chávez is in the presidency know perfectly well how these elections will be and who is going to “win” under the protection of government arbitrariness.
If someone were to ask why there are doubts about free elections, he should be told to analyze the way in which the course of the political life of Venezuela and he will easily have an answer. In spite of a supposedly very serious illness that Chávez is suffering, he maintains control over the country, moving from place to place as if he were in good health.
Lately, the opposition has emerged with a significant banner which is being held high by its candidate Henrique Capriles Radonski. This young candidate embodies the hope of all Venezuelans and of those who not being Venezuelans want a good republican life for that country.
Capriles has shown that he is a significant civic value. Of course, he represents the maximum Venezuelan hope to get out of the abyss in which Hugo Chávez has thrown them for the last thirteen years. Fortunately for Venezuelans, Capriles is not just any hope, but one that arises from the significant characteristics of the political culture of this candidate who was Governor of the State of Miranda from 2008 until June of this year when he left office to run for the presidency.
The fact that candidate Capriles is an extraordinary political asset does not mean, by itself, that Hugo Chávez will allow free elections in the country. In spite of the threat posed by Chávez, the people of Venezuela are overwhelmingly backing Capriles so that in the election there is someone, like him, to represent the supreme hope of Venezuelan democracy.
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