| The electoral system itself can be audited and found to be fair. However, it's unfair to: * Abuse the State's massive control of the media in favor of the ruling party. * Threaten people, fire them from their government positions, deny scholarships, or otherwise attack people for being against the government(see: Lista Tascón). * Shamelessly use resources of the State for political propaganda in favor of the ruling party. * Take power away from elected officials and create alternate institutions to replace them, when the electoral results don't favor the ruling party (see: Caracas Mayor). * Deny audits after an election, an integral part of fair elections. * Finally: kill, attack or detain people for opposing the ruling party, which is what's going on as of this moment while we type comments here. So whether the voting machines work correctly is far from the only thing needed to consider elections fair. - Another Venezuelan expat |