Venezuela's election is no great surprise

I spent several years living in  Venezuela back in the '90s, and I have some very mixed memories of it. It's a beautiful country, blessed with vast reserves of natural resources, but a basket case economically and politically, even back then, before Chavez and Maduro. It has only got worse since then.

So, it came as no surprise that the latest "democratic election" in the country was just a travesty, just like the last several elections under Chávez and, after him, Maduro.

First, Maduro conveniently disallowed the main opposition candidate, María Corina Machado. A replacement candidate, Edmundo González, was rapidly sworn in, and a tired, desperate population quickly embraced him. All the pre-election polls showed him streets ahead of Maduro. Exit polls also showed him with a healthy lead, and a landslide win was confidently expected, at least among the less cynical. 

Then, with no evidence and no hard figures, the Maduro government suddenly announced that Maduro had won a new term in official, with a convenient 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for the opposition. The Maduro-owned election organization insisted it was true, despite a complete lack of documentary proof.

Understandably, there was outrage and street protests sprang up in Caracas and other cities, which were predictably put down in violent fashion by the pro-Maduro police. Opposition politicians said that they has obtained sufficient evidence of a landslide win. Pro-Maduro forces stuck to their guns, because their livelihoods depend on it.

What did we really expect? Authoritarians rarely let their power slip away easily. Maduro is a spent force, but having spent decades greasing the palms of the country's civil service and security forces, his administration's death throes could take quite some time, and destabilize a poor abused country still further.