Controls over political advertisement and propaganda will
be reinforced in the last four weeks of the presidential election
to be held in Venezuela next December 3rd.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) made a proposal to hire
a private firm to keep surveillance on the TV and radio coverage
of the presidential race. The Carter Center has joined this
initiative by the Venezuelan Electoral Power and offered to
provide both the means and staff -just like the organization
did in 2004- to install an audiovisual media observatory that
is to assess both compliance with the Rules on Advertising
and Propaganda and the balance of information in local media.
The CNE directors have not commented on The Carter Center
proposal, even though they formally invited the group as observer
of the presidential election.