Opposition warns that Maduro’s resource to certify votes “does not exist in the legislation”

Venezuela’s opposition backing presidential hopeful Edmundo González Urrutia said President Nicolás Maduro’s appeal this week to the Supreme Court’s Electoral Chamber to certify the results of Sunday’s election “has absolutely no legal meaning.”

“When one goes to the judicial system it is because there is a damage for which one seeks reparation, because there is a legitimate claim, which gives you procedural quality (…) you are requesting a procedure that does not exist in our procedural legal system, what the Electoral Chamber invented, with all due respect, does not exist,” said Perkins Rocha, lawyer and member of the Vente Venezuela party, headed by opposition leader María Corina Machado.

The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of Sunday’s elections, but the opposition claims to have all the records that, they say, would confirm González Urrutia’s victory. The organization issued a second official bulletin on Friday, but did not present the results broken down table by table, as requested by the opposition and several countries.

The Electoral Chamber of the TSJ summoned the presidential candidates to appear this Friday, to begin a process of certifying the results, following the appeal filed by Maduro. It is not yet known whether González Urrutia will attend, but the opposition has stated that the body is not competent to fulfill the obligation of the CNE.

The Carter Center, which deployed a technical mission for the elections, does not consider this an “independent verification.”

Rocha also questioned the fact that Maduro filed the appeal assisted by the Attorney General of the Republic who, he clarified, should not deal with personal acts.

“What is Maduro doubting? His status as current or future president? The CNE’s pronouncement? Given the institutional weakness that exists, the erosion that exists in the CNE, Maduro is seeking that another body, equally or equally discredited, certify what the CNE said. Nobody believes in the CNE, and the first one who does not believe in the CNE is Maduro himself,” he said in a press conference.

“It was an invention of the Electoral Chamber to please candidate Nicolás Maduro,” he said.

Headquarters vandalized

The opposition that supports González Urrutia denounced that his campaign headquarters was vandalized early Friday morning and warned of an escalation in repression and persecution, especially against the candidate’s witnesses on election day.

“What were they looking for? The minutes, clearly (…) the minutes are not in Bejucal (name of the party headquarters), the minutes are already loaded into the system,” said political leader Delsa Solórzano, who said that they have more than 80% of the minutes.

“Many witnesses are called for a friendly conversation with the party of candidate Nicolás Maduro (…) and it turns out that it is to ask them to sign a document where they deny having been witnesses or deny having participated in the process. Under duress, any document that is signed is absolutely null and void,” said the lawyer.

Solórzano reiterated that the results coincide with those “sang” by the members of the polling stations in their centers, during the public scrutiny and citizen verification, and that many were recorded on videos.

He also insisted that crimes against humanity are being committed in the country.

“Today, Freddy Superlano remains in a state of forced disappearance, as well as several of our leaders,” he warned about the case of the leader of Voluntad Popular who was arrested this week and who the Attorney General, Tarek William Saab, without giving details, assured on Thursday that he is in good health.

Rocha said that the three security guards at the party’s headquarters were “temporarily kidnapped” and gagged for almost two hours by six unidentified hooded individuals during the early hours of Friday.

“In addition to vandalizing it, they stole important and substantial movable property, such as televisions, computer equipment, computer material, and electoral material used by our political organization,” he said.

“This adds to the chain of repression that exists today in the country against anyone who attempts to exercise political rights,” Perkins stressed from the vandalized headquarters.

“This is a terrible escalation that is taking place in the country (…) it has meant the abusive and criminal persecution of even political leaders and other important elements, for example, the possibility of persecution against witnesses that is taking place throughout the country,” he insisted.

Machado, who wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, said she is “protected” and fearing for her life. She later called on Venezuelans to meet “with family” in all cities across the country this Saturday at 10 a.m.

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