Hugo Chavez Wins Again

Apparently the United States ability to manipulate foreign elections came up short on this one. When, when, when is Karl Rove going to learn how to get the fix in? In retrospect, maybe Tom DeLay was the true genius on Capital Hill.

Chavez Reelected President of Venezuela: According to the first preliminary results from Venezuela's National Electoral Council, President Hugo Chavez won the presidency with 61.4% of the vote to his challenger's 38.4%.

The election seems to have been conducted without major problems even though voter ID is required. Isn’t it ironic that Hugo Chavez takes voting accuracy more seriously than Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle?

Venezuelan Elections: Calm & Tranquil: Voting was swift and extraordinary simple – a fingerprint, a name and identification check, a brief explanation of how to vote and use the electoral machine, and then a touch of a name, a confirmation and the printing out of a paper receipt, which once double checked against the machine vote by the voter in secrecy and deposited in the ballot box, completed the process. All of it took under two minutes and supervisors from the National Elections Council, Venezuela’s electoral body, were on hand at every site to help out in case of any irregularities or problems.

So Chavez is a socialist with the legitimate support of the poor. At this point in time, Venezuela is still enough of a democracy that a unified opposition can generate over a third of the votes. Since a true tyrant arranges for 100% voter approval, Hugo still has room to develop. Personally, I have no doubt he will continue to strive for unchallenged approval because in his heart, he wants to impose good as he understands it.