Carter Center: Venezuela's voting system is secure

Venezuelans have no reason to fear the secrecy of their ballots will be compromised by a new electronic voting system when they vote in presidential elections, the Carter Center said. President Hugo Chavez faces off against opposition candidate Henrique Capriles in Sunday's election, viewed as the toughest challenge to the incumbent since he came to power 14 years ago. The Carter Center noted that many Venezuelans are concerned that the new electronic system might alert authorities as to how they voted, exposing them to retaliation if they vote against Chavez. "This concern has no basis, however," said the Atlanta-based center. "The software of the voting machines guarantees the secrecy of the vote." While approving of the electronic voting system, the report took note of laws that allows the government to run free "government institutional ads" that closely resemble campaign ads for up to 10 minutes per station and per day. "The National Electoral Council (CNE) has not defined government ads that defend official government policy as campaign publicity," the report said. "Meanwhile, the CNE has defined opposition-sponsored criticism of government policy as equivalent to campaign publicity, and also banned some opposition-sponsored ads that criticize governmental policy." The fact that Chavez can command obligatory broadcasts of his speeches has "resulted in 40 hours and 57 minutes during the period of July 1 to October 1, the report said. This has led the coalition that supports the candidacy of Capriles to "claim repeatedly that there is not equity in campaign publicity," it added. In other comments, the center said that international observer missions have long recommended comprehensive audits of the voter registration list "that would test it in two directions but that it was unaware of any such audits. However, referencing two studies, it added that the current voter list includes 97 percent of all Venezuelans eligible to cast a ballot. The report was prepared by a Carter Center study mission that is on the ground following the electoral campaign. The Carter Center, founded by former president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn, has acted as an observer in past Venezuelan elections but will not do so this time. The State Department meanwhile said it was monitoring the elections closely, even though it has not sent any observers. "We want to see free and fair elections, and we want to see the Venezuelan people have the right to choose their leader in a free and fair manner, in a transparent" manner, said deputy State Department spokesman Mark Toner.