Voters wishing to signal their dislike for President Hugo Chavez by munching on paper voting machine receipts in a referendum on Sunday over whether to allow the Leftist to run for re-election could face prison.
General Jesus Gonzalez, who is charged with overseeing the vote's security, on Wednesday told reporters that voters in regional elections in November tore, balled up or threw away the papers printed by electronic voting machines. Some offenders were detained.
"They've eaten them. This is an electoral crime," Mr Gonzalez said.
The referendum will determine whether presidents can have unlimited terms. Without an electoral win to change the constitution, Mr Chavez should not be able to stand for re-election to another six-year term in 2012.
Venezuelans vote using electronic machines and receive a print-out receipt of their ballot. They have to deposit this paper in a box so that it can be counted as part of an audit trail to ensure the manual receipts match with the electronic results.
No comments:
Post a Comment