Dec. 8 Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Municipal Elections underway from 6am today, | Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela |Axisoflogic.com

Venezuelans showed their ink-stained fingers to the media, confirming that they voted in the April 14 election. Typically on election day, the people proudly show one another that they voted in this manner.

Venezuelan voters are going to the polls for the 19th time in 14 years today, Sunday December 8th 2013. Today 19, 066,431 people are eligible to vote our of a total population of 29.6 million compared to the 11 million that voted in the December 6th 1998 presidential elections when Hugo Chávez was elected for the first time with 56% of the vote.

In these 14 years the Venezuelan state headed up by the National Electoral Council (CNE) has spread democracy throughout the country. Since late 2003, working together with the Ministry of Justice that controls the National Identification Office (SAIME), Mission Identity made access to I.D. Cards less complicated. The result has been that millions of new and formerly excluded voters could register themselves in the National Electoral Register so as to foment universal suffrage that is vital to complement the participatory democracy central to Venezuela’s political system and Constitution.

Today the Venezuelan people will elect 335 mayors, two metropolitan mayors in Caracas and Apure state as well as 2366 local councilors, 20 metropolitan councilors and 69 representatives of the indigenous minorities. A total of 16,880 candidates have been postulated from more than 30 political parties. There are 13,651 voting centers with 39, 427 electronic voting machines (no manual voting). The elections will be run by voters selected by the CNE and will be supervised by 2240 functionaries from the Attorney General’s Office and custody will be provided by 153,000 members of the military.

In the last two presidential elections on October 7th 2012 and April 14th 2013, voter turnout has been 81% and 79% respectively. This is an extremely high figure as voting is a duty and not an obligation in modern day Venezuela and proves the level of political consciousness in the Venezuelan people. Compare this approximately 20% level of abstention with US presidential elections of almost 50%.

With its automated voting system that makes voter fraud impossible and which was called the “best system in the world” by former US President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Jimmy Carter, just last year, we go into today’s elections with optimism and confidence in our vibrant democracy with a will to accept and honor the results announced by the electoral authorities later on this evening.

We expect voter turnout to be around 60% - 65% as municipal elections have never attracted the same level of participation as presidential elections. Forecasts of the results are difficult to assess but the Grand Patriotic Alliance that includes the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and its allies, should win a majority of mayoralties. However, we desist from predicting the outcome in terms of numbers as the political will of the people is not as clear as it was before President Chávez died in March this year.

These elections will go some way to clarifying the political landscape that has been complicated not only by the passing of Chávez but also by an ongoing economic war aimed at ousting the government by making life very uncomfortable for the people. This has included induced food shortages and inflation for almost one year. Such inconveniences have been laid at the door of the government by the private media campaign allied to the right-wing Venezuelan opposition and its paymasters in Washington.

We will report on the results of Venezuela’s municipal elections later on this eveing when the CNE has announced the results.

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AXIS OF LOGIC COLUMNIST, ARTURO ROSALES