CARACAS, Wednesday November 12, 2008 | Update
Politics
The efforts made by Vicente Díaz, director of the National
Electoral Council (CNE) to open administrative proceedings
against President Hugo Chávez have failed again.
For the third time during this election campaign, the directors
of the CNE, with the sole exception of Díaz, refused
to launch an administrative investigation against the Venezuelan
President for alleged breach of the election campaign rules
during the inauguration of Morón Petrochemical Industry,
in the city of Puerto Cabello (central Venezuela). According
to the complaints, Chávez used the official event to
promote the candidacy of pro-government politician Mario Silva
to the government's office of Carabobo state, and met with
Zulia state businessmen to promote the candidacy of pro-government
candidate Gian Carlo Di Martino as governor of Zulia State,
and to criticize two opposition candidates: Pablo Pérez
and Manuel Rosales. Why did the CNE reject to probe Chávez?
On this opportunity, the electoral body argued that they cannot
restrain Chávez's political rights.
While the CNE refused to investigate Venezuela's Head of
State, it approved 47 administrative investigations. Among
the most emblematic cases, noteworthy are the investigations
against opposition leaders Pablo Pérez, Roberto Smith,
Bella Petrizzo, Eduardo Morales, Ramón Muchacho, Willian
Dávila and the government's office of Sucre state.
11:00 AM. Economy. Based on the official data, more and more families failed to get out of poverty in 2008; the exclusion status of more people moved faster and fewer people are on their way to overcome this situation. According to the data provided by the official National Statistics Institute (INE), last year the poorest homes in the country recorded an average monthly income of USD 401.82, whereas the food basket amounted to 417.77