By Deutsche Welle
Aug 19, 2024, 02:19 AM EDT
Judges of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela, including its president, the Chavista Caryslia Rodríguez, went to the National Electoral Council (CNE) to review the physical records of the presidential elections, in order to continue the process of “validating” the results of these elections.
The “validation” takes place 21 days after the elections of July 28, after which the electoral body declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner, a victory questioned inside and outside Venezuela by several dozen countries and international organizations.
According to state-run channel VTV, Rodríguez went with fellow TSJ members Inocencio Figueroa and Fanny Márquez, in the company of “international experts and observers,” to validate that the physical records match those received in the database of the CNE’s national aggregation centers, in order to continue with the process requested by Maduro to “certify” the results of the presidential elections.
They demand that the minutes be published
This procedure is moving forward despite calls from the Organization of American States (OAS), as well as from 22 countries and the European Union (EU) for the CNE to publish the electoral records and allow for an impartial verification of the presidential election results.
Despite threats and repression, Venezuelans demand respect for their will. Brute force and hate speech will not stop our resolve to begin a peaceful transition.
To all the Venezuelans who have mobilized in every neighborhood, village and city raising… pic.twitter.com/DU0tucrV4o
— Edmundo González (@EdmundoGU) August 18, 2024
On Saturday, the majority opposition grouped in the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) organized mobilizations inside and outside Venezuela to defend the “victory” that it claims its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained, according to “83.5%” of the “minutes” that it claims to have collected from witnesses and members of the polling station in the elections, documents that the government describes as false.
Falsify the minutes
Opposition leader María Corina Machado referred to reports that the Chavista government could “falsify” thousands of electoral records and print them to present as proof of its supposed victory, and challenged Maduro to do so, “to demonstrate his electoral fraud.”
On August 7, former Spanish President Felipe González, quoted by the Europa Press agency, warned that Chinese specialists were trying to falsify the minutes of the Venezuelan election, but noted that they needed time to do so and that was why the regime would be delaying the release of them.
The former president then insisted on a verification of the electoral result by an independent international organization, and warned that it should be done soon, because the government could try to alter the records.
Continue reading:
- Edmundo González: Brute force will not stop a transition in Venezuela
- Maria Corina Machado’s daughter spoke at the Venezuelan protest in New York
- Nicolás Maduro says that Edmundo González is “preparing his escape” from Venezuela