Disloyal, negative campaign two weeks before presidential vote in Venezuela

Leaflets distributed among the elderly saying that opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles will remove pensions; the recording and broadcasting of a video presented by ruling party Deputy Julio Chávez allegedly showing an opposition leader taking a bribe; the defection of opposition leaders claiming that an "economic package" would be introduced after Capriles wins the election; the withdrawal of the support given to Capriles by four political parties and the allegations that they had received a bribe to take such an action; the claims that Julio Chávez s daughter may have lived in a Venezuelan Consulate to the US; and the rumor that President Chávez is so sick that he cannot rally across the country are just some of the scandals and reports escalating at the end of the presidential race in Venezuela.

Opposition campaign team Comando Venezuela calls it smear campaign, whereas political analyst Alberto Aranguibel believes an atypical campaign is taking place amid a notable lack of ethics. Meanwhile, university professor and analyst Carmen Beatriz Fernández says that rather than a smear campaign -which is based on lies and falsehood, a negative campaign based on true events seems to be in place.

In the meantime, Aranguibel explained this is a different campaign, characterized by the presence of "disloyalty and lack of ethics." However, he added, this is not a smear campaign but a set of "deficiencies and deviations during the campaign."

Translated by Jhean Cabrera