Electoral technicians consulted clarify for SuchWhich Check that the CNE is obliged to publish the content of the minutes, but not the physical minutes as the PSUV did in 2013 and now the opposition does on a website. They emphasize that what the governing body discloses is the content of the minutes
It has been 13 days since the presidential elections were held and 12 since the National Electoral Council (CNE) proclaimed President Nicolás Maduro as the winner of those elections. Both events were held with 80% of the votes counted and amid complaints by the governing body that the system suffered a hacking attempt that slowed down the totaling phase.
The CNE has not yet shown the total results, a fundamental phase that guarantees the auditability of the elections, by the citizens, but also by the competitors. Given the lack of white smoke surrounding this process, the government and the opposition have opened a new debate: When is it legally required for the National Electoral Council to show the minutes?
The first thing to know is that the National Electoral Council itself, in its schedule, established that the phase of totalization, adjudication and proclamation of candidates would take place in two days: between July 28 and 29. The electoral body also established that between July 29 and August 2 the publication of the electoral results would be made.
Omitting the detail described above, Diosdado Cabellofirst vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), has assured that the CNE has 30 days to publish the results in the Official Gazette. Cabello has responded to accusations by opposition leaders that the entity has not complied with the legal deadlines. The official leader seems to be basing his argument on article 155 of the LOPE, which establishes that the National Electoral Council will order the publication of the electoral results in the Official Gazette within 30 days following the proclamation of the elected candidates.
*Read also: Cabello responds to Machado: He is not in a position to negotiate anything
What about the minutes?
Electoral technicians consulted by SuchWhich They clarify that the CNE is obliged to publish the content of the minutes, but not the physical minutes as the PSUV did in 2013 and now the opposition does on a website. They emphasize that what the governing body discloses is the content of the minutes.
“What the law establishes is that the CNE is obliged to total the votes within a period of 48 hours, but the law does not say that it is obliged to publish them. The importance of this is that it allows the candidates to verify,” says one of the experts. He adds that the process should include the results table by table.
“As the law does not say that this has to be published, it could be valid to total the results and give them to the candidates on a pen drive or, on the contrary, to give the results of that phase to the witnesses. There could be different methods,” he explains.
Historically, the CNE has specified in its schedule the period for publishing the results on the CNE website, table by table. This has been the only election where the delay is due to the alleged hacking attempt.
According to the technician, regardless of the argument now presented by the CNE, the delay is a violation of the schedule and therefore of the law, since once it is published in the Official Gazette it should not be modified.
“They should open a new page and take the necessary precautions to be able to publish. If they have the minutes and if they announced the minutes with a total, it is because they have the partial results, which are the result of each table, because otherwise the results cannot be audited,” adds the source who prefers to remain anonymous.
Opaque closure
Delsa Solórzano, national leader of Encuentro Ciudadano, stated that the period established by the Organic Law of Electoral Processes (LOPE) expired on Tuesday, July 30 at 6:00 p.m. She noted that Article 146 of the LOPE establishes that the National Electoral Board and the Electoral Boards, the latter under the supervision of the former, will have the obligation to carry out the totalization process within forty-eight hours.
In the event that the electoral boards have not completed the total within the stipulated period, the National Electoral Board may carry out the total. The aforementioned article states that the total must include the results of all the voting records of the respective constituency.
Article 147 orders the National Electoral Board and the Electoral Boards -as appropriate- to totalize all the minutes of the vote count, with the exception of those in which the format of the Minutes of the Scrutiny approved by the National Electoral Council was not used. “The Minutes of the Scrutiny that are damaged or mutilated to the point that it is not possible to know the numerical result or the essential data for their identification,” it adds.
Another electoral expert points out that what happened with the election results is not merely a legal issue. “There is no rule of law in Venezuela,” says the source. He adds, “although the CNE has not published the minutes in the past, citing technical incapacity, the truth is that the minutes are an element that, in the context of this conflict, should be published.”
He points out that it is necessary to provide the parties with the results broken down by polling stations and to verify the data.
“These are verification and auditing mechanisms that are currently truncated,” he says. At the same time, he points out that neither have the results been published on the website nor have the parties received the total results.
“It is an opaque closure to the process that was the entire electoral process.”
Post Views: 157
