The electoral campaign for the coming September 26 legislative elections officially began today.
From August 25 until midnight on September 23, the different political parties will be able to campaign and advertise for the 165 seats up for election in the National Assembly, whose new period of sessions will begin in January 2011.
During these elections, the Venezuelan people will choose 110 single candidates, 52 party-line candidates and three representatives of indigenous communities, totaling the 165 seats that will be disputed on September 26.
On March 18, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council approved Regulation Number Six of the Organic Law on Electoral Processes, while on May 27 it passed the special regulation on electoral campaigns. Both regulations outline the norms that the different candidates and parties must abide by during the campaign.
Regulations state that under no circumstances may campaigns broadcast information that discredits or degrades the opponent; nor can they use symbols and colors of a political party without its consent. They also prohibit anonymous campaigns.
Campaign advertising that threatens the honor, privacy, dignity or reputation of a candidate; that promotes war, discrimination, disobedience of laws; that argues against the exercise of voting; or that includes obscene and degrading language against government institutions are not allowed.
On August 24, electoral authorities met with representatives of Venezuela’s National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) to join efforts and ensure that Venezuelan media outlets abide by campaign regulations.
Conatel National Director Pedro Maldonado emphasized that the institution will serve as an auxiliary entity for the electoral council, since the monitoring and sanctioning, in case norms are broken, corresponds to the electoral body.
The National Electoral Council has 72 attorneys and 18 supervisors distributed nationwide to monitor the respect of electoral norms by public and private institutions, media outlets and political organizations.
AVN/ Press Office – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S./August 24, 2010
