Foreign Digest: Hungary and Venezuela

Hungary: There were mass protests last week against the far-right authoritarian Hungarian government after the leaking of an audiotape that incriminates government officials in corruption. The public revelation by a public official comes after the resignation of the Vice President over the scandalous pardon of a criminal who had been convicted of abusing a minor. Authoritarian governance is often corrupt because of the diminishment of checks and balances, transparency and dissent. Venezuela: The popular opposition Venezuelan presidential candidate was barred by the Socialist dictatorship from holding office for 15 years, which violated a deal mediated between the government and opposition I had posted about. The center-right candidate continued to campaign, but resigned as the nominee in favor of noted philosophy professor, until her candidacy was challenged by the regime’s election officials. At the last moment, the opposition filed the required paperwork for a new opposition presidential candidate by the deadline, a former provincial Governor. In another example of the undermining of the integrity of the elections in Venezuela, the 5.2 million Venezuelans abroad are experiencing difficulty in registering to vote, which has led to protests at some of Venezuela’s diplomatic missions. Also, after several opposition leaders sought diplomatic sanctuary in Argentina’s embassy, Venezuela cut off the embassy's electricity. There were more demonstrations in favor of the release of political prisoners, joined in the call by scores of non-governmental organizations. Their release is one of the chief goals of the opposition. The Socialists took power in the South American State in 2004 through elections, but became increasingly authoritarian. Like Russia and Turkey, the oppressive regime has not permitted fully free and fair elections, but only enough of a process of voting to give the dictatorship a false appearance of legitimacy