[Marxism] vzlan result still not in

[Joaquin Bustelo]

One more thing to add to Michael's caution. Among the exit polls being cited
--and actually, the one supposedly giving the largest margin to the  "yes"
vote, 56 versus 44-- is one by Datanalisis. The head of Datanalisis not only
denies that their poll produced these results, he said (on CNN en Español)
that his firm did not DO an exit poll. This suggests that the stories based
on alleged exit poll results may well be based on speculation, rumors or
fabrication. That three (anonymous) Chavez ministers have been cited as the
source by one of these stories is no guarantee of anything. It just means
those three heard the same rumors. 

That said, people on government TV have grown increasingly categorical
throughout the night that they will accept the results as tabulated by the
CNE even if the victory of whichever side is just by one vote, and call on
the opposition to do the same. This suggests they believe they have won, but
it is also probably true that there is no way the government can challenge
the results if it lost, 

In addition, VTV and now Globovision have been reporting that the CNE has
decided to wait until 90% or more of the returns have been tabulated before
issuing its first bulletin, and both campaign headquarters agree that the
vote is very close (they get copies of all the "actas" or official statement
of results from all voting places and have their own computation
operations). While (a few) opposition folks are criticizing the delay, the
Globovision anchors and others generally sympathetic to the opposition camp
explain that this is apparently by agreement inside the CNE with support of
the opposition reps so that fairly definitive results can be given right out
of the gate.

Joaquin