Maduro party plays electoral tricks to foil opponents, say critics

Opposition politician Carlos Ramos is not standing in this weekend’s regional elections in Venezuela; even so, his name and photograph are on the ballot and people will still be able to vote for him on Sunday. This curious situation, repeated across the country, is just one way that the ruling Socialist party of President Nicolás Maduro is digging into its bag of electoral tricks to try to prevent the opposition from winning, critics say, while simultaneously claiming Venezuela is a healthy democracy. Reality on the ground suggests otherwise. In what looks like a blatant attempt to confuse, the names of dozens of candidates who lost in last month’s opposition primaries have been included on the ballot sheets. Mr Ramos is one of them. That means that anyone who votes for him is wasting their time. All ballots for these “ghost candidates” will be discounted. More…