In the struggle to name a new election board that won’t be as discredited for its pro-Hugo Chavez biases as the last one, a supposedly transparent and fair process is being put into place and supposedly neutral observers are being chosen.

This of course is not happening. The candidates are being asked whether they voted or not – a highly loaded question since only 18% of the voters voted in December and the rest of the electorate boycotted the election. If saying they stayed home on election day means they aren’t patriotic (read: Chavista) then the only people who will get on that board are more Chavistas. That won’t do much for voter confidence in itself.

But it gets worse when one realizes that a blacklist, that was supposed to be gone, is still being lovingly maintained. Miguel Octavio, back from a long vacation, has the whole story here.