2023-04-19 19:01:14
- The National Migration Service clarified to the Asovenchile organization that any Venezuelan migrant with a residence visa meets the legal requirements to update their data before the CNE. However, although those consulted in the country are open, bureaucratic obstacles make their registration difficult
Before the 2024 presidential elections, one of the biggest concerns for the political sectors is the participation of Venezuelans abroad. It is not for less, because according to the National Electoral Council (CNE) itself, around 4 million Venezuelan migrants are of voting age. However, most are not registered in the Electoral Registry or have not yet updated the information of their new address.
In fact, the body itself estimates that barely 108,000 people appear as voters abroad. In this context, different organizations of Venezuelan migrants have devoted themselves to the task of registering the number of potential voters in their countries of residence, and fighting so that they can exercise their right in the next elections.
One of them is the Venezuelan Association in Chile (Asovenchile). Together with other non-governmental organizations (NGOs), they asked the government of Gabriel Boric for information on how many Venezuelans in the country have legal residence status. This is because it is the essential requirement to be able to update before the CNE.
According to the portal the whistle, on April 14, the National Migration Service of Chile notified Asovenchile that all Venezuelans with a visa can participate in the elections of their native country. This includes from the temporary to the permanent visa, so all Venezuelans with this document are considered legal residents.
legal Venezuelans
Patricia Rojas, president of Asovenchile, explained to the whistle that the agency has granted 444,423 visas to date. Of that total, about 375,000 also meet the requirement of being of legal age, so that, in theory, they can vote in the presidential elections.
“In theory they are a little more, because people who acquired Chilean nationality are not included there. We have a pending appeal at the National Council for Transparency, ”he declared.
Chile currently has different types of visas that authorize stay in that country. The Migration Service contemplates temporary residence visas, which allow you to live, study and work in that country for one year and are valid for the Electoral Registry. Also specific visas for work, studies or family reunification. The only type of visa that would not be valid for this process is the tourist visa, since it does not contemplate residence in the country or stay for a long period of time.
What is required to vote from abroad?
The Organic Law of Electoral Processes (LOPRE) establishes in its article 124 that “only voters who have residence or any other regime that denotes legality of permanence outside of Venezuela may vote abroad.” That is, that their immigration status is regular. It also grants facilities for embassy officials and diplomatic missions posted abroad.
An inconvenience that the process could have lies in article 29 of the LOPRE. This states that “for the purposes of registration in the Electoral Registry, the only required and valid document is the identity card.” This is because in many countries the absence of diplomatic relations with the Nicolás Maduro regime makes any process difficult. Especially those that involve the issuance or renewal of identity documents such as ID and passport.
This could be an obstacle even on election day, since the identity card is also the only document recognized by the LOPRE to access the polling station.
In fact, recently the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Aliens (Saime) updated its system to process the ID, now under an appointment scheme. Since the page only allowed requesting an appointment at the agency’s offices in Venezuela, for a moment concern was generated among Venezuelans abroad. However, the director of Saime, Gustavo Vizcaíno, clarified to the portal Venezuela News that soon the option to make the request from outside the country will be enabled.
Open the RE
Rojas indicated to the whistle that currently there are only 2,076 Venezuelans listed in the Electoral Registry as voters in Chile. He asked the CNE to soon allow a registration and updating day in the country, so that the more than 300,000 legal Venezuelans can formalize their change of address. A petition to which other civil organizations, political parties and even the Chilean Migration Service itself have joined.
However, there does not seem to be a willingness on the part of the CNE to register Venezuelans outside the country. The Súmate civil association denounced in a statement that the Electoral Power has been restricting in recent years the right of Venezuelans abroad to register in the Electoral Registry, violating the guarantees of the LOPRE.
He pointed out that the last time the CNE carried out a broad day to register voters abroad was for the 2012 presidential elections. Long before the mass exodus began due to the complex humanitarian emergency, and which would explain the low number of registered in the cut of 2022.
Logistical complications
In an interview in July 2022, the rector of the CNE, Enrique Márquez, spoke on the issue of voting abroad. He indicated that in order to register as a voter abroad, it is enough to go to any consulate, as long as it is open and functional. However, since 2019 Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with several countries in the region, and although several were gradually reestablished, there are currently countries such as Colombia or Brazil whose embassies still do not operate 100%.
Chile is one of the countries where Venezuelans do have consulates where they could register in the RE. But despite this advantage, the obstacles continue from the diplomatic institutions themselves. Several migrants have denounced slow procedures and mistreatment by staff.
In fact, the Crónica Uno portal reported that in 2018, the Venezuelan community issued a letter denouncing that the embassy and consulates in the countries requested requirements that are not provided for in the LOPRE to update the Electoral Registry, such as the birth certificate or attention by terminal number of the card.
In his interview, Márquez acknowledged that there are structural flaws that violate the rights of Venezuelans abroad. He affirmed that the CNE is working on a reform of its regulations that considers the current volume of migrants that are scattered throughout the world. However, as the months go by, no progress is seen in the matter. Neither will the body now carry out a process that by 2024 could be more logistically complex.
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