Venezuelan National Electoral Council Announces Mayoral Elections for May

Merida, December 21^st 2012 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – The president of the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), Tibisay Lucena, announced yesterday that municipal elections, where mayors and members of the municipal councils are voted for, will be on 26 May 2013.

Lucena said political organisations will be able to register candidates between the 15 and 22 February.

Electoral campaigning will be allowed from 25 April until 24 May. The CNE will also hold a two week period of registrations for new voters, or for voters to change their details.

This year the CNE has run three elections; opposition coalition MUD’s primary elections in February, presidential elections in October, and state elections this month.

Lucena noted that Venezuela’s automated electoral system is “fast, simple, and trustworthy”, as ratified by this year’s elections, where results were available within two to three hours of all voting booths having closed.

Meanwhile, president Chavez, who was re-elected for a new presidential term in October and was operated on last week for a reoccurrence of cancer, is “fine and conscious, in a process of continuous progressive stabilisation,” vice-president Nicolas Maduro informed yesterday.

Maduro said Chavez is still being treated for a respiratory infection which was a product of the operation, and the infection is still “under control”.