SARA CAROLINA DIAZ
EL UNIVERSAL

The international electoral observer missions of the Carter Center and the Organization of American States (OAS) Monday certified the preliminary results the National Electoral Council (CNE) disclosed early on Monday according to which Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has survived Sunday recall vote.

"As long as evidence of vote fraud is not found, we are not questioning the results the CNE has published," said César Gaviria, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), in a news conference he offered together with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

Both foreign electoral observers ensured that the preliminary report the CNE disclosed early Monday coincided with the results of a "quick vote count" the joint international delegation had conducted.

They admitted they were not allowed in the room of the CNE where votes where counted. Nevertheless, Gaviria played down such situation, and said OAS control standards allow to determine whether a vote fraud was committed or not, and that they have found no evidence of vote fraud so far.

Gaviria explained that said room is considered a "sensitive area," and therefore it is not strange that only technical experts are allowed to witness the process of totalization of votes for security reasons. He added that they witnessed the transmission of the election results from a room located nearby. "It is very hard to manipulate the results," he stated.

Meanwhile, Carter said that over 10 million people participated in the election, "and there is a clear difference in favor of President Chávez." According to Carter, it is also clear that the political opposition in Venezuela amounts to almost 50 percent of the population. "We were absolutely neutral in our treatment with the government and the opposition," he indicated, saying he is to remain in Venezuela until Wednesday.

Audit in 192 voting tables

The international electoral observers urged Venezuelans to respect the results. "All Venezuelans now have the responsibility to observe the results, unless there is evidence showing they are not correct," said Gaviria.

There are two ways of knowing where a vote fraud was committed or not. One way is through a "quick vote count" and the other way is through the count of the paper ballots the voting machines printed.

In this sense, they said they are waiting for the results of an audit the CNE is conducting in 192 balloting tables randomly selected. "We are open to hear the opposition when the results of the audit are disclosed," said Gaviria, adding that opposition-linked non-governmental organization Súmate has figures -resulting from "quick vote count"- that are similar to the results both the CNE and OAS have.

Translated by Maryflor Suárez