Wednesday, July 31, 2024
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Sunday, July 28, 2024
Venezuelans vote in highly charged election amid fraud worries
July 28, 2024 9:24 AM
By Reuters
People vote in the country's presidential election, in Caracas, Venezuela, July 28, 2024.
CARACAS —
Venezuelans waited in line at polling stations and cast ballots Sunday in the most consequential election in a quarter-century of socialist party rule, with President Nicolas Maduro confident of victory even as the opposition has attracted impassioned support and warned of possible irregularities.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been the star of the coalition campaign, even after a ban on holding public office forced her to pass the torch to candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, a 74-year-old ex-diplomat known for his calm demeanor.
Gonzalez has won backing even from some former supporters of the ruling party, but the opposition and observers have questioned whether the vote will be fair, saying decisions by electoral authorities and the arrests of opposition staff are meant to create obstacles.
Maduro — whose 2018 reelection is considered fraudulent by the United States, among others — has said the country has the world's most transparent electoral system and has warned of a "bloodbath" if he were to lose.
Reuters journalists located in six cities around the country reported lines outside polling stations, including some that opened late.
"I've been here since 5 a.m. I came to vote for change, for a new Venezuela, which will be reborn and because I'm a public worker and we need change to be able to have a dignified salary," said Tibisay Aguirre, a 57-year-old cook who was waiting in line in Maracay, in the central state of Aragua.
Polls close at 6 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) and results could be published Sunday night or in the following days.
Maduro's government has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population, and a sharp deterioration in diplomatic relations, crowned by sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and others which have crippled an already struggling oil industry.
Maduro has said he will guarantee peace and economic growth, making Venezuela less dependent on oil income.
The minimum wage is equivalent to $3.50 per month, while basic food for a family of five is estimated to cost about $500. Many people receive government food baskets or remittances from relatives abroad.
Dozens of voters were casting ballots at the Venezuelan consulate in the Spanish island of Tenerife, with others gathered outside waving flags and cheering.
Several voters said they had been registered at that consulate for many years. Migrants around the world have reported difficulties registering and only a small percentage of the diaspora is expected to be able to vote.
The Chavez legacy
Maduro voted early in the morning in Caracas and said the result announced by the National Electoral Council will be recognized and "defended" by the armed forces and the police.
People attending Maduro's closing rally in Caracas on Thursday spoke enthusiastically of his late mentor — long-time socialist President Hugo Chavez — and said Maduro, in power since Chavez' death in 2013, was continuing his predecessor's legacy of helping the poor.
"Nicolas Maduro is building up the country and continuing the legacy of Commander Chavez," said Conde Miranda, 54, who traveled from southern Ciudad Guayana to attend.
Others alluded to a more challenging environment.
"Maduro has done both good things and bad things, the problem is the people below him," said 30-year-old public employee Alejandro Goldteims.
Gonzalez and Machado, who have promised major changes and said a fresh start may motivate migrants to return, have urged people to hold "vigils" at polling stations. They have said they expect the military to uphold the results of the vote.
Venezuela's military has always supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that leaders of the armed forces are breaking from the government.
Twenty-two people have been arrested since Friday "in the context of the electoral process," Gonzalo Himiob, the vice-president of human rights organization Foro Penal, said on X, adding that at least 15 remain detained.
Venezuela's attorney general this week denied participating in political persecution and said the election should be peaceful.
Public spending has grown only slightly during the campaign, analysts say, a change from past campaigns when spending was generous.
Maduro says he has opened 70 public works projects during the last several months, but many have been renovations of already existing schools, hospitals and roads, according to events broadcast on state television.
CARACAS —
Venezuelans waited in line at polling stations and cast ballots Sunday in the most consequential election in a quarter-century of socialist party rule, with President Nicolas Maduro confident of victory even as the opposition has attracted impassioned support and warned of possible irregularities.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has been the star of the coalition campaign, even after a ban on holding public office forced her to pass the torch to candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, a 74-year-old ex-diplomat known for his calm demeanor.
Gonzalez has won backing even from some former supporters of the ruling party, but the opposition and observers have questioned whether the vote will be fair, saying decisions by electoral authorities and the arrests of opposition staff are meant to create obstacles.
Maduro — whose 2018 reelection is considered fraudulent by the United States, among others — has said the country has the world's most transparent electoral system and has warned of a "bloodbath" if he were to lose.
Reuters journalists located in six cities around the country reported lines outside polling stations, including some that opened late.
"I've been here since 5 a.m. I came to vote for change, for a new Venezuela, which will be reborn and because I'm a public worker and we need change to be able to have a dignified salary," said Tibisay Aguirre, a 57-year-old cook who was waiting in line in Maracay, in the central state of Aragua.
Polls close at 6 p.m. local time (2200 GMT) and results could be published Sunday night or in the following days.
Maduro's government has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population, and a sharp deterioration in diplomatic relations, crowned by sanctions imposed by the United States, European Union and others which have crippled an already struggling oil industry.
Maduro has said he will guarantee peace and economic growth, making Venezuela less dependent on oil income.
The minimum wage is equivalent to $3.50 per month, while basic food for a family of five is estimated to cost about $500. Many people receive government food baskets or remittances from relatives abroad.
Dozens of voters were casting ballots at the Venezuelan consulate in the Spanish island of Tenerife, with others gathered outside waving flags and cheering.
Several voters said they had been registered at that consulate for many years. Migrants around the world have reported difficulties registering and only a small percentage of the diaspora is expected to be able to vote.
The Chavez legacy
Maduro voted early in the morning in Caracas and said the result announced by the National Electoral Council will be recognized and "defended" by the armed forces and the police.
People attending Maduro's closing rally in Caracas on Thursday spoke enthusiastically of his late mentor — long-time socialist President Hugo Chavez — and said Maduro, in power since Chavez' death in 2013, was continuing his predecessor's legacy of helping the poor.
"Nicolas Maduro is building up the country and continuing the legacy of Commander Chavez," said Conde Miranda, 54, who traveled from southern Ciudad Guayana to attend.
Others alluded to a more challenging environment.
"Maduro has done both good things and bad things, the problem is the people below him," said 30-year-old public employee Alejandro Goldteims.
Gonzalez and Machado, who have promised major changes and said a fresh start may motivate migrants to return, have urged people to hold "vigils" at polling stations. They have said they expect the military to uphold the results of the vote.
Venezuela's military has always supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that leaders of the armed forces are breaking from the government.
Twenty-two people have been arrested since Friday "in the context of the electoral process," Gonzalo Himiob, the vice-president of human rights organization Foro Penal, said on X, adding that at least 15 remain detained.
Venezuela's attorney general this week denied participating in political persecution and said the election should be peaceful.
Public spending has grown only slightly during the campaign, analysts say, a change from past campaigns when spending was generous.
Maduro says he has opened 70 public works projects during the last several months, but many have been renovations of already existing schools, hospitals and roads, according to events broadcast on state television.
Saturday, July 27, 2024
Friday, July 26, 2024
European Parliamentary breakfast on the protection of a work-free Sunday in Europe
European Parliamentary breakfast on the protection of a work-free Sunday in Europe
On April 10, the European Sunday Alliance – a broad European coalition of trade unions, employers' associations, social NGOs and church organisations campaigning for synchronised free time in Europe – held a European Parliamentary breakfast on the protection of a work-free Sunday in the EU.
The event was hosted by MEPs Miriam Lexmann and Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP) and came ahead of the European elections in June. On the occasion of the European Day for a Work-Free Sunday on 3 March, the members of the European Sunday Alliance had already launched an election manifesto that calls on European decision-makers to work at national and Brussels level to ensure that Sunday protection is as consistent as possible.
The event in the European Parliament served to highlight in particular how, from different perspectives, a protection of synchronised free time – in other words a work-free Sunday – is a worthy matter, not least also as a tool to fight loneliness. It also flagged substantial challenges that however exist in practice on many fronts to protect synchronised free time, a work-free Sunday, and thus to fight loneliness. It stressed that with employment patterns and working times becoming ever more scattered, with social media and digitalisation and online life becoming ever more central, societies need to be careful that loneliness and individualisation do not become a New Normal in private and economic life.
Members of the European Sunday Alliance made clear: Loneliness is in many cases undesired by affected persons and therefore a negative matter – and a tool to fight this is to ensure synchronised free time, to protect a work-free Sunday, to provide alternatives to solitary online life, to ensure that retired people, workers, their families, their children can again spend more time together.
Speakers included Béatrice D’Hombres (Project Coordinator ‘Fairness and Loneliness’ at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, JRC), Stefan Eirich (President of the German Catholic Workers’ Movement, KAB) and Antonella Sinagoga (Expert on Parish and Family for the Salesian Youth Ministry Department). It was moderated by representatives of organisations that constitute the European Sunday Alliance’s steering committee, Franziska Kuster (Protestant Church in Germany, EKD), Hendrik Meerkamp (European Confederation of Independent Trade Unions, CESI), Alix de Wasseige (Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of the EU, COMECE) and Maria Waszkiewicz (Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe, FAFCE).
Creepy! Moment Teenagers BROKE into BOHEMIAN GROVE 2024 (R$E)
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