“It is completely lacking in credibility,” “we have not seen any evidence,” “it is trying to validate unsupported results”: the United States, the head of diplomacy of the European Union and 10 Latin American countries rejected on Friday the ruling that validated the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
Washington said that “it is time” for the ruling Chavistas and the opposition to “start talks on a political transition.” However, shortly after, the Venezuelan Attorney General announced that it would summon opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as part of a criminal investigation against him.
González claims victory in the July 28 elections, in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed Maduro reelected. The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) endorsed the result on Thursday.
In response to allegations of fraud by the opposition, Maduro had asked the TSJ to validate the CNE reports, which give him 52% of the votes.
The independence of the CNE and the TSJ has been questioned by the opposition and a UN mission.
“Burda maniabra”
The CNE has not published results table by table, as required by law, claiming that its system was hacked.
The opposition, led by former MP María Corina Machado, published copies of the voting records on a website, which she claims prove her candidate’s victory with 67% of the votes.
It is part of the “overwhelming evidence” that the United States says exists of Maduro’s defeat. And the Supreme Court ruling “completely lacks credibility,” said Vedant Patel, a spokesman for the State Department, who calls for negotiations to be launched for a “respectful and peaceful” transition.
Washington also supported the rejection by 10 Latin American countries (Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay) of a ruling that they say “intends to validate the unsupported results issued by the electoral body.”
“Only an impartial and independent audit of the votes, which evaluates all the minutes, will guarantee respect for the popular will,” the document stated.
Foreign Minister Yván Gil described this “rude and insolent” text as an “unacceptable act of interference.”
Machado welcomed the statement. “At this point, no one can believe the crude maneuver of the TSJ,” he wrote on the X network, while González Urrutia published a statement – which he signed as “president of all” – with a new appeal to the international community.
“I call on the nations of the world to stand firm in defending our democracy and to continue to demand transparency in the actions of state bodies.”
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States has also rejected the ruling.
“We will not recognize it”
“We have not seen any evidence,” said the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.
“As long as we don’t see a verifiable result, we will not recognise it,” Borrell said in Santander, Spain, where he said he was trying to get the 27 EU countries to “take a position” as a bloc.
For now, the Spanish government has asked that the minutes be “published in a complete and verifiable manner.”
Asked whether he recognized Maduro’s re-election, Mexico’s leftist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said Friday that he would wait “for the minutes to be released.”
López Obrador was part of a joint initiative with his Brazilian counterparts, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro, to promote negotiations. Lula and Petro – who have not yet commented on the Venezuelan Supreme Court’s ruling – proposed a new election, an idea flatly rejected by Maduro and the opposition.
Cuba and Nicaragua welcomed the ruling.
“Show your face”
The TSJ – which did not present technical details of the expert report – said in its ruling that the electoral material examined remains under its “safekeeping” and urged the CNE to publish the “final results” in the official gazette, without requesting details for each table.
The opposition website, which Chavismo dismisses, is the target of a criminal investigation against González, who was also declared in contempt for not appearing before the TSJ in the “expertise” process. He -in hiding- argued “defenselessness.”
“He will have to face the consequences,” said Attorney General Tarek William Saab on Friday, who is already investigating him along with Machado for “inciting insurrection.”
Former opposition candidate Enrique Márquez filed an appeal on Friday asking the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court to review the ruling of the Electoral Chamber, which he has already announced is “unappealable.” Legal experts claim that the court took over powers that belong to the CNE.
LDAV
Related
2024-08-27 07:07:33