(2004/C 88 E/0262)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0971/04

by José Ribeiro e Castro (UEN) to the Commission

(29 March 2004)

Subject:   Venezuela – referendum

The media report that the Coordenadora Democrática, the umbrella organisation covering the political parties opposed to President Hugo Chávez, have welcomed the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) to urge the National Electoral Council (NEC) to validate 876 017 signatures whose authenticity has been called into doubt, despite the fact that they were accompanied by the signatories' fingerprints.

The SCJ has decided to urge the NEC to add a further 876 000 signatures to the 1 832 493 already validated (making a total of 2 708 510) and to call the referendum on revoking the President's mandate.

A Coordenadora Democrática spokesman told the Venezuelan media of the movement's satisfaction at the ‘return of legality and constitutionality’, stressing the obligation to respect the impending NEC jurisdictional decision.

Meanwhile, the Mayor of Libertador (one of the two Caracas local authorities), Fredy Bernal, has announced that the Movimento Quinta República (MVR), the government party, was going to appeal against the decision of the Electoral Chamber of the SCJ.

Various political analysts believe that there could shortly be conflict between Venezuela's various legal authorities and institutions, particularly between the SCJ's electoral and constitutional chambers, and the NEC.

The Commission:

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(30 April 2004)

After the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced the preliminary results for the Presidential recall referendum on 2nd March 2004, the legal activity on the recall referendum has been intense. The CNE ruled that, out of the amount of signatures examined (3 086 013 – the opposition said it submitted 3 467 050), just over 1,8 million signatures have been declared valid, 876 017 doubtful, and more than 230 000 invalid. The signatures considered doubtful are the result of the so called ‘planillas planas’ (signature forms where the basic data of those who signed have been filled in similar handwriting) and would have to be double-checked in a ‘repair process’ (‘reparo’), together with certain other signatures originally declared invalid. As a consequence, according to the CNE, more than 1 million signatures needed further verification and they had to be confirmed, by those who signed. 2,4 million signatures are needed to call the Presidential referendum.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court's Electoral Chamber ruled, on 15 March 2004, that the ‘planillas planas’ were valid. The CNE appealed this ruling to the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber, which considered that the Electoral Chamber was not competent according to the 1999 Constitution and ordered it to refrain from ruling on the referendum process. The Electoral Chamber has reaffirmed its competence on the matter and asked the Court's plenary to decide. The outcome cannot be predicted with any certainty. This Constitutional controversy is causing further delays for the possible referendum on President Chávez.

The European Union supports the role of the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Carter Center in the conflict and the efforts they are making to implement the political agreement signed on 29 May 2003 by the Venezuelan government and the opposition, in line with the OAS resolution 833, which calls for a pacific, democratic, constitutional and electoral solution. The EU has reiterated the importance of implementing this agreement. Nevertheless, even if a referendum takes place, the polarisation in society will take time to overcome as will the recovery of the economic situation.