By EFE
Aug 14, 2024, 8:45 PM EDT
A panel of United Nations experts noted that the management of results carried out by the Venezuelan electoral authorities after the The July 28 elections lacked the basic measures of transparency and integrity that are essential to holding credible elections.
In an internal report, to which EFE had access on Tuesday, the panel of four electoral experts emphasized the statement made by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), according to which the current president of that country, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected for a third consecutive term in the elections of last July 28.
Venezuelan electoral body has not published the results
The report highlights that the CNE’s announcements on July 29 and August 2, “without the publication of their details or the delivery of tabulated results to the candidates is unprecedented in contemporary democratic elections.”
The announcements consisted of oral communications without any infographic support. and in fact the CNE has not yet published “any results (or results broken down by polling station) to support its oral announcements as provided for in the legal framework for elections,” the document adds.
According to the panel’s experts, this “had a negative impact on the confidence in the result announced by the CNE among a large part of the Venezuelan electorate.”
Minutes published by the opposition are valid
The report highlights that it has been able to observe a small sample of the minutes of several polling stations that are in the public domain, including those published on the Internet by the opposition, which exhibit all the safety features of the original results protocols.
There is no information about the process before the Venezuelan Supreme Court
The report also refers to the complaint made by Maduro on July 31, 2024 before the Electoral Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice, in which he requested a review of the process and the results, after which said entity announced that it would proceed with a process of expert verification of the documentation presented by the CNE.
Experts point out that So far, there is no detailed information available on how this verification is being carried out.
Arrests and persecution of the Venezuelan opposition
The panel also referred to the protests that took place between July 29 and August 2, which have left a balance of More than 20 people killed, including a soldier, and more than 1,000 people arrestedfigures that, the panel noted, “have continued to increase.”
“The panel also heard reports of threats and intimidation against party members and election officials,” the document said.
Experts agree that the election day of July 28 was largely peaceful and logistically well organized, while the pre-election period was also peaceful but marked by continued restrictions on civic and political space.
Similarly, the government campaign enjoyed complete control of state media, while opposition candidates had very limited access to them.
The report recalled that the panel, which remained in Venezuela from late June until August 2, was invited by the CNE and was not an electoral observer mission, and therefore, was not established to issue a public judgment on the outcome of the election.
“The objective was to monitor and report internally to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on the electoral process and make recommendations for future improvements,” he added.
Doubts about the electoral result in Venezuela
The CNE, which claims to have suffered a cyber attack on voting dayhas not yet published the disaggregated results confirming Maduro’s victory -contrary to its own regulations-, a silence that has been questioned by numerous countries.
The anti-Chavez alliance published on a website – investigated by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office – more than 80% of the electoral records that confirm, according to the coalition, that its candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won by a wide margin.
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