CARACAS, Sunday November 23, 2008 | Update
In some polling centers, voters are still waiting to cast their ballots (Photo: Paulo Pérez Zambrano / El Universal)
Politics
Opposition leaders denounced that the National Electoral
Council (CNE) intended to implement an extension of the electoral
process, running counter the law.
Some minutes before the CNE president announced the closing
of the polls at 4:00 pm in the polling stations where there
were not people waiting to cast their ballots, opposition
party leaders Julio Borges (Primero Justicia), Henry Ramos
Allup (Acción Democrática) and Ismael García
(Podemos) denounced on TV that the CNE intended to declare
and extension of the polls. They said that this would have
been a fraud against Venezuelans.
Henry Ramos Allup said that they will not allow "any fraud,
cheating or opportunism." He added that the opposition parties
would not allow any violation of electoral rules.
Ismael García asked the CNE to uphold the results and
to Venezuela's President, Hugo Chávez, to acknowledge
people's will. "No instruction from the Miraflores Palace
(the seat of the Venezuelan Executive Branch) can not change
the agreements made in the last few hours," said García.
02:22 PM. Economy. About USD 1,981.52 needed a family to cover the cost of the family basic consumption basket last October, a hike of USD 31 and a 1.6-percent variation.