The Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE) on Wednesday (14/08/2024) sided with Chavismo against the report of the UN panel of experts, which confirmed that the presidential elections scheduled for July 28 lacked “basic procedures of transparency and integrity”.
“The content of the said report is a pamphlet and its ‘expertise’ is completely destroyed in light of the weak and easily deniable arguments” they are using to try to delegitimize the “impeccable and transparent electoral process,” the electoral body said in a statement.
The UN panel concluded in its report that the elections lacked “basic measures of transparency and integrity,” which are “essential for credible elections.” In addition, the document stressed that “all established deadlines were not met.”
Capriles: “Maduro lost”
The opposition responded by pointing out that the UN document reinforces the hypothesis that supports the victory of the Democratic Unionist Party candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
Through this, the National Electoral Commission certified the victory of President Nicolas Maduro.
For his part, Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate, said that the UN commission’s report “reaffirms once again” that Maduro “lost the elections,” recalling that the National Electoral Commission “has not yet presented the minutes of the meeting or the detailed results” – according to the expert committee – “unprecedented in contemporary democratic elections.”
Chavism is out of control
After the report was released, the official president of parliament, Jorge Rodriguez, called the UN specialists “garbage” and proposed banning “foreign” monitoring in future Venezuelan elections.
Detailed voting results have not yet been released, although the National Electoral Council has already declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner for a third six-year term.
“This expert committee is a garbage committee without a word, because they signed (an agreement) that says the report is private and that only the electoral authority in Venezuela and the UN Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) know about it,” Rodriguez said in a session of the unicameral National Assembly controlled by the ruling party.
The lawmaker proposed “reforming Venezuelan electoral laws so that no foreigner would ever come again to take a position” on the elections. “Why should they come? At what expense?”
Maduro was declared re-elected with 52% of the vote, but the opposition led by Maria Corina Machado denounces fraud and declares its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia the winner, while the leftist president denounces the attempted “coup”.
US demands ‘acceptance of results’
Meanwhile, the US government has called on Maduro to recognize the election results.
Opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia “got the majority of votes, that’s clear. That’s clear. And what we’ve said repeatedly, and we’ll continue to say, is that Maduro has to recognize that,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said at a news conference.
“It is the responsibility of Maduro, Venezuelans and the electoral authorities to tell the truth about the election results,” he insisted. “It is clear that Edmundo has the majority of votes. Maduro must recognize that.”
The crisis in Venezuela has unleashed multiple protests that have left at least 25 people dead, 192 injured and more than 2,400 arrested, according to official reports, while the United States, Europe and several Latin American countries have asked the National Election Commission to publish detailed results.
A (AFP, Efe)
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