2023-06-16 11:55:01
The president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Pedro Calzadilla, announced this Thursday his resignation along with seven other members of the body, ahead of the 2024 presidential elections.
The country’s opposition has long claimed the council is biased in favor of President Nicolas Maduro’s ruling party. Most of the 15 council members, including Calzadilla and the seven others who resigned, are allied with the government, while just two are allied with the opposition.
“We place our positions at the disposal of the National Assembly so that it can immediately designate a National Electoral Council,” said Calzadilla in a speech to journalists at the body’s headquarters, without allowing questions.
The move comes two weeks after the opposition commission tasked with organizing the October primaries to choose a rival to Maduro in the presidential race said it would request technical assistance from the National Electoral Council.
“We hope this is not a scheme to try to impact the primaries and, consequently, the general elections,” Dinorah Figuera, head of the parallel opposition legislature, said in a message to Reuters. She said the opposition is demanding that the process be protected.
A European Union observation mission said after the country’s 2021 regional elections that electoral conditions had improved compared to the three previous elections.
But the report said structural deficiencies in state resources for campaigning and unequal access to the media persist, which favor the ruling party.
By Deisy Buitrago, Vivian Sequera and Mayela Armas
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