Venezuela court blocks destruction of voter lists (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuela's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered opposition electoral officials not to destroy lists of voters following primary elections.

Rafael Velasquez, a mayoral contender who lost in Sunday's primary, had sought the court order so that voter lists could be reviewed.

Venezuela's opposition coalition had decided before the vote that books with voters' names and identification numbers would be burned as an extra measure to ensure secrecy.

Ramon Guillermo Aveledo, who heads the opposition coalition, said its lawyers were studying ways to oppose the court's decision, which he called "absurd."

Aveledo said in a statement that many of the lists have already been destroyed and that the opposition coalition "won't violate the confidence placed in the secrecy of the vote."

The issue is of particular concern to the opposition. After a failed 2004 recall vote against President Hugo Chavez, a list of those who had petitioned for the election was leaked and widely circulated. Hundreds of people complained that after appearing on the list, they were fired from government jobs or prevented from working for the government.

Chavez's government denied discriminating against those who appeared on that list.

Velasquez told reporters that he had a right as a candidate to request a review of the lists of voters in the primary elections. Velasquez alleged there were irregularities, saying "it didn't work as it should have." He didn't publicly explain in detail why he thought it necessary to review the lists.

The Supreme Court ruled that within 24 hours the books with voters' names should be turned over to the National Electoral Council, the court said in a statement.

The books were used for voters to sign before casting their ballots, and about 3 million opposition supporters participated in the elections.

The primaries determined opposition candidates for state and local races across the country, as well as the opposition's presidential candidate, Henrique Capriles. The 39-year-old state governor will face Chavez in the Oct. 7 presidential election.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120214/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_opposition

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