Part Three (part two)



4. AID/OTI Contract with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to Foment a Coalition Among Political Parties of the Opposition and to Strengthen These Parties

This 32-page contract dated September 24, 2003 and valid until the end of September 2004 allotted $550,000 for an NDI program at its Caracas office in order to “build coalitions and to strengthen political parties." The program also resulted from the May 2003 agreement between the government and the opposition to hold a recall referendum and elections to follow if the recall was successful. The contract required that NDI report to AID/OTI every 3 months on the program’s finances and progress.

The objectives of the program were “to assist political parties in Venezuela to engage in coalition building and become more representative, inclusive, internally democratic, and ethical.” The need for this program is expressed in terms of the collapse of the old political system: “However, new political movements and the traditional political parties, suffering from internal rifts and lacking credibility and funds, have proven ineffective in offering convincing alternatives to Chávez’s leadership.” Thus: “In response NDI would continue to promote internal reform and renewal efforts by the main political parties and movements.”

The description of the program contained in the contract, as written by NDI, begins with comments on the political situation. “The collapse of the party system remains one of the root causes of the political stalemate in Venezuela.” “In recent years Venezuelan society has split over the populist policies and authoritarian leadership of President Hugo Chávez.” “President Hugo Chávez has emerged as one of the most controversial and polarizing leaders in Venezuelan history.” In 1998, “Chávez was swept into power by an electorate deeply disillusioned with the nation’s traditional leaders.” “Once in office, President Chávez quickly moved to consolidate his power by abolishing the Senate, markedly increasing the power of the presidency, suspending public funding of political parties and traditional non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and creating his own set of 'Bolivarian' societal organizations. He pursued controversial land reform measures, politicized the judicial system, and attacked his critics in the media."

The contract continues with a list of proposed activities under this program:

a) Coalition-Building with Opposition Political Parties and Movements. As an example, says the document, NDI is considering an invitation by the President of Costa Rica to organize a strategic meeting of opposition representatives to discuss the formation of a coalition. The program in Venezuela will consist of: consultations to negotiate the formation of a coalition and the development of a common strategy; the design of a plan of communications among the parties; a plan to attract support for the coalition from other groups; the development of a common platform that unites the parties; the design of procedures for decisions about leadership of the coalition and its candidates in future elections; and a plan for the leadership of the coalition after the referendum.

For these consultations NDI will bring experts to Venezuela from its own team and also experts and political “practitioners” experienced in building coalitions in other countries such as Chile, Nicaragua, Poland and the Czech Republic.

b) Promoting Acceptance of the Referendum Process with the Chavez Coalition. “To help affirm support for the referendum within the Chavez government, NDI would seek out reformist elements of President Chávez's party, the MVR, and share lessons learned by practitioners or experts from countries where confidence-building measures were necessary such as: Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Portugal and Spain. These practitioners would underscore the importance of taking pro-active, public steps to remove doubt about President Chávez’s commitment to the process."

c) Building and Renewing Political Parties and Movements. This part of the program will be a continuation of the activities that NDI already has underway and that are financed by NED until September of 2003. They will consist of bringing “international practitioners” to Venezuela to assist political parties in areas such as outreach to “underrepresented” sectors like “youth, women, racial minorities, and the poor; strengthening state and local chapters; ethics and transparency; political negotiation; internal party communication; coalition-building; and relations between political parties and civil society.” The parties named for this program are AD, COPEI, MAS, Primero Justicia, Proyecto Venezuela, and the Chavez party, Movimiento Quinta República.

d) Public Opinion Analysis. In support of these activities with the parties, NDI will establish a new system for surveying public opinion, contracting the Argentine polling firm Romer and Associates with assistance from a Venezuelan firm like Consultores 21.
To carry out this program NDI will hire a National Director for its office in Caracas who has extensive experience with political parties and elections. A Project Assistant will also be hired. These appointments must be previously approved by the CTO of AID-OTI in Washington. The same approval is required for all the practitioners, experts, and advisers that NDI plans to bring to Venezuela from abroad. Finally NDI commits to coordinate the program closely with IRI and with the Carter Center in Atlanta.

5. AID/OTI Contract with the National Democratic Institute (NDI) to Guarantee the Credibility of the Referendum and Possible Elections through a Group of Venezuelan NGO’s that will Monitor the Process

The period of this 34-page contract is from September 2003 to September 2004, and like the others that OTI/AID has with IRI and the NDI it followed the May 2003 agreement between the opposition and the government to carry out the referendum that could result in subsequent elections. The total value is $769,487 but NDI is obliged under the contract to seek additional funding from Venezuelan and international sources, which opens the door for the CIA to channel money to this project. The purpose is to establish, finance, train and direct a group of Venezuelan NGOs that will monitor the referendum process before, during and after the voting. The funds will also support this organization for the possible presidential elections in case the opposition wins the referendum, and even further to assure its long-term permanence. The Venezuelan NGOs that the contract mentions as possible participants in the program are SĂşmate (Join Up), Red de Veedores (Network of Monitors), Mirador Democrático (Democratic Observer), Queremos Elegir (We Want to Choose), and CiudadanĂ^a Activa (Active Citizenry).

With this program NDI hoped to attract to the NGOs participating in this unnamed civic-electoral organization thousands of volunteers for training and assignment to diverse tasks that cover the entire referendum process. The goal is also to overcome a problem: "Venezuelans do not have confidence in the administration of a referendum or electoral process, expecting bias from the elections authorities and other state institutions, including manipulation of the voting and counting processes (on) elections day."

NDI writes in the description of the program that it has carried out similar election monitoring projects in 65 countries over 20 years. In Venezuela it has worked since 1995 “assisting Venezuelan civic groups with electoral reform and election observation initiatives.” It mentions the Escuela de Vecinos de Venezuela (School of Neighbors of Venezuela) and Queremos Elegir as two of its Venezuelan partners. NDI claims that this project’s objective is “to promote citizen confidence and participation in upcoming referendum and electoral processes.”

To carry out this program NDI will hire a Field Representative who will advise participating NGOs “on all the aspects of the program” on a daily basis. The Field Representative will also organize visits and schedules of NDI and foreign experts including Latin American members of an election observation network called El Acuerdo de Lima (The Lima Agreement). As in all AID/OTI contracts, prior approval by the CTO in Washington is necessary for recruiting the Field Representative and all the experts and consultants. Likewise prior approval by the CTO is required for all the subcontracts necessary to give money to the participating Venezuelan NGOs.

In the project description NDI enumerates the steps to take in forming the coalition of NGOs. These include the formation of a board directors of prominent and respected citizens such as civic activists, academics, business leaders and clerics. These should represent the various ethnic, religious, geographical and social sectors of Venezuelan society and give prestige and credibility to the NGO coalition. Another step is an agreement on the procedures for making decisions and choosing of spokespersons, as well as the assignment of such tasks as administration, control of funds, public relations and recruitment. It will also be necessary to make a work plan that includes a tasks time-table and a plan for connecting with government and electoral authorities, political parties, media, the delegations of international monitors, international organizations and the public in general. Finally, it will be necessary to organize a system to collect funds from national and international donors.

The description of the program then details in several pages the tasks to complete during the pre-electoral period and on election day as well as short and long term post-election tasks. Of special interest is the quick count method to calculate the probable results before the official count is completed. This system is based on the selection of voting stations from which probable results can be extrapolated before the official count is available. The purposes of the quick count, according to the document are “1) identify and expose electoral fraud when it occurs or to deter potential fraud from occurring; and 2) raise public confidence in the election results and reduce the potential for post-election conflict.” The uses of the quick count result can include its announcement “to provide an independent check on the official count.”

NDI attaches much importance to the continuance of this coalition of NGOs after its first election-monitoring event, that is to say the recall referendum. It emphasizes that the NGOs should retain the thousands of volunteers throughout the country active and interested between electoral processes through work evaluations, planning, and other civic activities. The contract doesn't say it, but obviously the possibility exists of transforming this civic coalition of NGOs into a political party itself as has happened in other countries.