There has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez will rig the vote count in the October 7 presidential elections. But after interviewing opposition candidate Henrique Capriles last week, I doubt that a massive electronic fraud will be possible.
Judging from what Capriles told me in a 40-minute interview, and what I’m hearing from several international election experts, there is no doubt that Venezuela’s election process is imbalanced — Chávez is using government funds to buy votes, has unlimited access to television time, and controls most electoral institutions — but it won’t be easy for the Venezuelan