Keeping Venezuela's Elections Democratic

Elections for Venezuela's unicameral legislature are Dec. 6, and the opposition to President Nicolas Maduro and his ruling United Socialist Party is leading in the polls. Maduro is doing his best to prevent an opposition victory -- not just gerrymandering districts, dominating the airwaves, and creating deliberately confusing ballots, but also imprisoning or disqualifying opponents. Moreover, polls can't account for either the complex workings of National Assembly voting (a mix of proportional and direct representation) or the ruling party's creeping takeover of Venezuela's once-vaunted electoral mechanisms. Whatever happens, though, one thing is clear: Venezuela cannot continue like this. More…