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Latin American Program in the News: The well-greased vote machine Chavez left

Cindy Arnson

Director Cynthia J. Arnson calls the ruling socialists' get-out-the-vote efforts in Venezuela extremely atypical for a democracy.

Across the nation, government vehicles cruise streets blasting salsa music and distributing campaign literature. Campaign billboards festoon the roofs of government buildings.

The vote-impelling army officially numbers 200,000, but with nearly 2.7 million state employees is likely far higher. In October, it helped raise voter turnout to an impressive 81 percent from 75 percent in Chavez's 2006 presidential victory.

Cynthia Arnson of the Woodrow Wilson think tank in Washington, D.C., calls the ruling socialists' get-out-the-vote efforts atypical for a democracy.

"Maduro can draw on a Chavista base that has received huge benefits from the state and can be mobilized quickly, and there has been a complete blurring of the resources of the state with the resources of the campaign," she said. "It's not just the party machine. It's the entire apparatus of the state than can be deployed."

The grassroots Chavista get-out-the vote structure is called "One for 10:" Participants are responsible for getting 10 people to the polls.

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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/04/12/5337363/the-well-greased-vote-machine.html#storylink=cpy

About the Author

Cindy Arnson

Cynthia J. Arnson

Distinguished Fellow, Latin America Program
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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more