The Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice validated the results issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE) which declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner. This decision is contained in a ruling whose operative part was read this Thursday from the auditorium of the highest court in Venezuela in the presence of the diplomatic corps accredited in the country and CNE directors, among others.
The ruling was read by Judge Carislya Beatriz Rodríguez, president of the TSJ and the Electoral Chamber, who was accompanied by her colleagues Fanny Márquez and Inocencio Figueroa. This ruling is the response to an electoral appeal filed by President Nicolás Maduro so that the Chamber “clarifies everything that needs to be clarified.”
After the expert analysis, the magistrates concluded that the bulletins issued by the CNE are supported by the voting records transmitted by each of the voting machines and are in full agreement with the data records of the national aggregation centers.
“We certify in an unobjectionable manner the electoral material examined and validate the results issued by the CNE where Nicolás Maduro Moros was elected,” says the ruling.
In the ruling issued on Thursday, the magistrates urge the CNE to publish the final results of the presidential elections held on July 28. In addition, they forward the ruling to the Public Prosecutor’s Office so that, if it deems it necessary, it may initiate the relevant criminal investigations related to common and electoral crimes detected during the electoral process.
At one point in the ruling, the judges declared former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in contempt because he ignored the summons issued by the Electoral Chamber to appear on Thursday, August 8, and submit the voting records that they said they had, among other documents.
The expert report was conducted and it was concluded that the bulletins issued by the CNE are supported by the voting records issued by each of the voting machines and are in full agreement with the records in the databases of the national counting centers.
The TSJ certified the electoral material examined in an “unobjectionable” manner and validated the results issued by the CNE in which Nicolás Maduro Moros was elected.
The CNE was urged to publish the final results of the electoral process as provided for in Article 155 of the Organic Law on Electoral Processes.
The case is referred to the Attorney General so that all the elements can be incorporated into the investigations that he is carrying out regarding the alleged crimes (common electoral and constitutional) that could have been committed.
The Litigation Step by Step
-July 31, 2024. President Nicolás Maduro went to the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ and filed an electoral contentious appeal for its judges to verify and authenticate the results of the elections of July 28.
-1 August. The Electoral Chamber admits, addresses and begins the verification process to certify the results of the electoral process of 28J. In that same act, the Chamber summoned the 10 presidential candidates.
-2 August. Nine of 10 presidential candidates attended the Electoral Chamber in response to the summons of that instance. That day, Judge Carislya Rodríguez read a commitment signed by eight of the nine candidates present. The document makes it clear that the former candidates for the Miraflores seat agree to respect the final decision of the Electoral Chamber in relation to the presidential elections. Enrique Márquez did not sign and Edmundo González left the chair empty.
-2 August. The Electoral Chamber issues a new ruling to summon the CNE and to submit all documentation derived from the electoral process of 28J, including the minutes of the vote counts.
-5 August. The CNE as a whole went to the Electoral Chamber and recorded: vote counting minutes, final totalization minutes, adjudication minutes, proclamation minutes and proof of the cyber attack.
-August 7-9. Nine of the ten candidates attended, as well as 38 representatives of the organizations that nominated them. The parties allied to Edmundo González, that is, Plataforma de la Unidad, Un Nuevo Tiempo and Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, said they did not have any minutes or other documents from the elections. “Súmate handled that,” said Manuel Rosales before the three magistrates of the Electoral Chamber, according to witnesses.
-10 August. The Electoral Chamber held a meeting with the diplomatic corps accredited in Venezuela, before whom it read the provisions of a ruling that includes the main moments of the process leading up to the elections. In this ruling, the magistrates note the failure to appear of Edmundo González, a situation that constitutes contempt of a court order.
-18 August. The three magistrates of the Electoral Chamber went to the main headquarters of the CNE to proceed with the validation of the physical records against those received at the totalization center on election day.
