Cablegate: Constitutional Referendum by the Numbers

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SUBJECT: CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM BY THE NUMBERS

(SBU) The following are some useful background statistics
related to Venezuela's December 2 referendum on President
Chavez's proposed, sweeping changes to 69 articles of the
1999 Constitution:

The Referendum
--------------

Number of blocks of articles on the ballot: 2
Number of articles contained in block one: 46
Number of articles contained in block two: 23
Number of articles Chavez originally proposed changing: 33
Total number of articles on the ballot: 69
Total number of articles in the 1999 Constitution: 350
Groups officially registered with the "No" camp: 16
Groups officially registered with the "Yes" camp: 19

Election Day
------------

Polls Open in Morning: 6:00 (5:00 EST)
Polls Close in the Afternoon: 4:00 (3:00 EST)
(unless people are still in line; in recent elections polls
frequently were left open even with no one in line)
Electronic Voting Machines: 34,200
Polling Stations in Venezuela: 11,007
Polling Stations in Embassies/Consulates Abroad: 125
Percentage of stations using electronic voting machines: 99
Number of registered Venezuelan voters: 16,251,555
Number of Venezuelan states: 23
Number of opposition state governors: 2
Number of pro-Chavez governors advocating "No": 2

Election Monitoring
-------------------

OAS Observers: 0
EU Observers: 0
"Yes" Camp's alloted international observers 15
"No" Camp's alotted international observers: 15
Number of international observers invited by CNE: Up to 120
Machinary audits conducted with "Yes" and "No" blocks: 8
Number of independent audits of the voter rolls: 0
Embassy personnel involved in election monitoring: 50
Local results electoral NGO Ojo Electoral will audit: 400
Local results eletoral NGO Sumate will audit: 1200
Number of journalists accredited to cover referendum: 3000
Number of National Electoral Council (CNE) Rectors: 5
Number of CNE Rectors Widely Considered Independent: 1

Recent History
--------------

Number of national elections Chavez has lost: 0
Number of consecutive Chavez national election victories: 7
Percentage of vote Chavez won in 2006: 63%
Percentage of vote Chavez won in the 2004 recall referendum:
59%
Percentage of vote Chavez won in 2000: 60%
Percentage of vote Chavez won in 1998: 56%
Rate of abstention in 2006 presidential race: 25%
Rate of absetention in 2005 parliamentary elections: 75%
(opposition boycotted)
Rate of absention in 2004 recall referendum: 30%
Rate of abstention in 1999 constitutional referendum: 55%

DUDDY

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