this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2024
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52
Venezuela election: twitter thread debunks some of the anti-Venezuela fake news circulating on social media (x.com)
submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by iie@hexbear.net to c/news@hexbear.net
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The twitter thread is referenced in this excellent article by the same journalist, Alan MacLeod, which I posted here yesterday, but I think it deserves its own post.

Thread reader: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1818050593468072023.html

If you don't feel like clicking a link, here are the tweets transcribed, with some links added:

top 11 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] tocopherol@hexbear.net 13 points 3 months ago

Simple point to argue with lib election deniers:

100 opposition supporters arrive at a voting center in central Caracas at 6 pm, attempting to force polling stations to close exactly on time.

If the election is rigged why would the opposition try to reduce the number of people able to vote? US news articles I read claiming it was illegitimate also just say there were "irregularities" but don't mention what those irregularities were, and for evidence they quote average opposition voters who say things like "no way do so many people support Maduro, it has to be rigged, I just know it." Basically the same things a Trump supporter would say about the election being rigged.

[–] TowardsTheFuture@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Anyone have any good links on what he has done for the country and all? I am curious and yall seem fairly on point with information to back things up.

[–] iie@hexbear.net 14 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

This article by the same author includes some information

Here are two interesting quotes from the article:

U.S. sanctions have devastated the country. But the Maduro administration appears to have successfully weathered the worst of the storm. Stores are full again, inflation has been tamed, and Venezuela now produces 96% of the food it consumes. On top of that, Maduro’s signature housing policy, Misión Gran Vivienda Venezuela, just celebrated the building of its five-millionth apartment. “Venezuela is healing” is a common slogan across the country.

and on elections:

Many U.S. observers who spoke with MintPress were quick to compare the Venezuelan system favorably with their own. “I am actually kind of blown away by how advanced [the Venezuelan electoral system] is, particularly compared to the backward nature of the U.S., so I am completely impressed,” Jodi Dean, a professor and political scientist, said.

[...]

Elizabeth Burley, a representative of Unión de Vecinos, a Los Angeles tenants’ union, spent election day monitoring voting in La Guaira state and noted a number of superior features of Venezuelan democracy, including that the polling system is automated and completely consistent between localities. Furthermore, she said, Venezuelan elections are held on Sunday rather than midweek as they are in the U.S., allowing more people to participate. Burley noted that she was able to go inside stations and observe everything and that there were witnesses from both government and opposition parties present. Apart from a few verbal exchanges between left and right-wing voters, she said, events proceeded in a state of calm.

This list by dessalines might be a decent place to look for more information. It focuses on refuting attacks against Venezuela, but there should be some good information in the mix about what Maduro has done. The important context to keep in mind is that Venezuela is under more than 900 sanctions and other punitive measures, which have severely hampered the economy

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

What's the rebuttal to the argument that the numbers are too clean and looks to be from percentages to votes, not vice versa?

[–] iie@hexbear.net 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Can you link to the argument?

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)
[–] iie@hexbear.net 3 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

To talk about this argument we need to know where the numbers are from.

This author appears to have gotten them from a screenshot someone sent him

P.S. I haven't checked any of these numbers myself. I'm assuming the screenshots that Zambrano sent are the real thing. If he's scamming me here I'm gonna be really angry!

We need to see that screenshot and investigate where its numbers are from

In the meantime, there is a possible benign explanation, but it's only speculation:

P.P.S. Commenter Ryan points out that you could also explain this data pattern as a result of sloppy post-processing, if votes were counted correctly, then reported to the nearest percentage point, and then some intermediary mistakenly multiplied the (rounded) percentages by the total vote and reported that. I have no idea; you'd want to know where those particular numbers were coming from.

I'm suspicious because I haven't seen many people talking about this. You'd think there would be a feeding frenzy... or maybe there is and I'm just out of the loop

[–] SoJB@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

I hope Venezuelans do not make the same mistake the US made.

We have a word for people who try to overthrow a democratically elected government using violence and propaganda.

They’re called terrorists, and every single one of them deserves justice.

[–] SkingradGuard@hexbear.net 6 points 3 months ago

Lmao, the USA is funding these fascists

[–] iie@hexbear.net 4 points 3 months ago

just the US being the largest "state sponsor of terrorism" on the planet

[–] gay_king_prince_charles@hexbear.net 3 points 3 months ago

Sorry sweaty but a terrorist is when a brown person has a gun