To be sure, the opposition’s withdrawal from the election just days before the vote was, as Chávez claimed, more a symptom of its own weakness than of problems with the electoral process. And, just as surely, that very weakness is a function of the gradual stifling of many features of Venezuela’s traditional democratic order.
的确，正如查韦斯所言，反对派在投票前几天退出选举表明的不仅仅是选举过程中的问题，而是反对派自身的虚弱。而且同样清楚的是，反对派的虚弱正是委内瑞拉传统民主秩序众多特征逐步窒息的功能。