The "impossible vote"

My friend Mike points out the latest statement from the Bachelet administration that it has not ruled out abstaining from the UN Venezuela vote. I realized I had missed this story from Sunday’s La Tercera, which has more detail. The headline there sums it up perfectly: “An Impossible Vote.”

Although the administration explicitly says that such an option should not be linked to the recent insulting comments by the Venezuelan ambassador, it is impossible not to do so. It may well be that Venezuela has finally pushed too hard. Bachelet does not want to antagonize the Christian Democrats too much, especially after they’ve been openly criticized by a foreign ambassador.

Other interesting tidbits:

Guatemala claims to have 110 votes (if all countries vote, then you need 128 to win). There is no way of knowing how accurate that is.

Although Uruguay and Costa Rica are viewed as potential consensus candidates, the Dominican Republic has also been approached by Chile.