2024-08-22 22:29:44
Unsurprisingly, the Supreme Court of Venezuela, which many observers consider to be underpowered, approved on Thursday the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro despite accusations of fraud from the opposition who considered the decision to be “absurd”. .
The court “confirmed in an undisputed way the electoral materials and the results of the election of July 28, 2024 (…) Nicolas Maduro was elected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the constitutional period of 2025 -2031”, said. Its president Caryslia Rodriguez.
It was Nicolas Maduro himself who appealed to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in early August to validate his victory.
The announcement of his re-election for a third term sparked immediate protests, which continued with panic. They left 27 dead, according to a new report from authorities on Wednesday. In addition, 192 people were injured and 2,400 were arrested.
Mrs. Rodriguez assures that “the ballot papers of the National Electoral Commission (CNE) (…) are supported by the counting reports issued by each voting machine” and “fully in accordance with the records that are in the databases of the national reading institutes”.
Nicolas Maduro, 61, was declared the winner with 52% of the votes by the CNE, which has not yet made public the minutes of the polling stations, saying it was the victim of computer hacking.
Such an attack is considered highly unreliable by opponents and many observers, who are seen as a tactic by those in power to avoid the actual reading. Mrs. Rodriguez, however, confirmed on Thursday that there was “evidence of a major cyberattack against the electoral system”.
– “Nil” –
As the opposition, which made public the minutes he received thanks to his auditors, his candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the vote with more than 60% of the votes. The president of the parliament Jorge Rodriguez, however, confirmed that they are “false”.
A few minutes after the announcement of the court’s decision, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia published on the X network the words “Null” written in red. “The sovereignty of the people is immovable.
Even before the decision, he told the Supreme Court judges: “No decision will replace popular sovereignty. The country and the world know its oppression and, therefore, its inability to resolve the conflict; his decision will not only increase the crisis. He also called on Mr. Maduro to accept “political change” peacefully.
In his judgment, the TSJ accused Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia of “insult” for not having shown up for his calls, unlike all the other candidates including Mr. Maduro, and the “sanctions” questions.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab indicated that the prosecution will “deepen” its investigation into Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia and the leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado regarding the procedure that has already been opened for “calculation of activities (…) and conspiracy.”
On Saturday, during an opposition demonstration, Maria Corina Machado was sure that the mobilization would continue. “We will not leave the streets. The voice of the people is respected. The whole world and all of Venezuela know that the elected president is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia,” he said.
President Maduro can count on an army that the opposition hopes to rally to his cause. After having repeated his “loyalty” to the Head of State since July 28, estimated Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Thursday after the TSJ’s announcement that “the institutions are working” well.
A large part of the world community and especially the United States, the European Union and Latin American countries do not recognize the re-election of the social president.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric responded, believing that the Tribunal “ends the fraud combination”, adding: “There is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship which fakes elections, represses those who think differently”.
On Thursday, a UN independent mission in charge of evaluating the human rights situation in Venezuela “warned of the lack of independence and impartiality” of the Supreme Court and the CNE, emphasizing “their role in the situation of material exploitation”, in according to a message on X from the United Nations Human Rights Council.
“This is nothing more than a crude attempt to cover up fraud in the court,” responded on X Juanita Goebertus, regional director of Human Rights Watch.
In Caracas, hundreds of people gathered at the government’s call to demonstrate against the religion of redemption, a term the government regularly uses to describe the opposition.
#Venezuela #reelection #President #Maduro #approved #Supreme #Court