Candidates ask Venezuela’s highest court to let the CNE publish results table by table

The call for Venezuelan presidential candidates to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice ended with demands from the majority of them for the National Electoral Council to immediately publish the results of the election in each of the 30,026 voting tables and verify them to guarantee peace in the South American country.

Judge Caryslia Rodríguez, president of the TSJ and the Electoral Chamber, stated in an event, which was not attended by opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, that this body will focus on “investigating, verifying and certifying in an unequivocal and unrestricted manner the results of these presidential elections” last Sunday.

“Their decisions regarding mandates are binding,” he said.

The opposition is challenging Sunday’s election for alleged fraud and says it has the majority of the votes to prove it won, while the government is denouncing a coup d’état. Popular protests against Maduro’s proclamation have left at least 700 people arrested and 16 dead since Monday, according to NGOs.

The document, signed by 8 of the 10 presidential candidates, stipulates that all candidates, their parties, the CNE and “other participating parties” must submit all legal documents “required of them.”

Enrique Márquez, candidate of the Centrados party, refused to endorse the document and the president of the Electoral Chamber urged him to present his arguments through the secretariat.

“This is a very formal act. Any statement (against the sentence) must be submitted to the secretary to state why you will not sign it,” the judge replied.

In a statement to the press, Márquez criticized the contentious appeal introduced by President Nicolás Maduro after his proclamation by the National Electoral Council and the fact that a courtroom has been tasked with resolving the case.

“I hope that the Electoral Chamber is not used so that the CNE can hide under the robes of the magistrates” and not reveal the electoral results to the country with each of the minutes, he said.

Maduro calls on González Urrutia to “show his face”

Maduro, for his part, criticized González Urrutia, whose coalition denounced fraud and claims to have won the vote, and specified that he was notified that he would not attend due to alleged differences within the Unitary Platform regarding his presence at the event.

“The candidate of fascism is missing again, he won’t show his face. What is he planning, more violence?” he said. Maduro guaranteed that the official Gran Polo Patriótico will deliver 100% of the voting records from Sunday’s process to the Electoral Chamber.

Antonio Ecarri, from the Alianza del Lápiz party, submitted to the Electoral Chamber his “severe observations” regarding the judicial procedure that has been set in motion and pointed out that, in his opinion, “the one who is dodging the issue is the CNE.”

“It cannot be that at this point we still have not published the results for each polling station,” he said, condemning “the repression” and “the violence.”

He said he did not understand the process opened in the TSJ and wondered if it was “for the certification of the minutes,” adding that the one who must issue them is the CNE. “So much fuss for what? We need transparency,” he told the press.

Choral call to the CNE

Presidential candidate Claudio Fermín, for his part, called for “the publication of the results table by table” and warned that the Electoral Chamber, in his opinion, “takes upon itself the task of collecting the minutes to validate the results.”

Javier Bertucci, another candidate and national deputy, also asked the CNE to report the results “transparently” and facilitate their audit.

José Brito, a candidate criticized by the opposition for leading a judicialized party, considered that the CNE must present “the entire result, table by table” and that those who claimed fraud must present “all the minutes” to support their complaint.

Daniel Ceballos, from Arepa Digital, called on both the CNE and the Electoral Chamber to “guarantors of peace, justice and transparency,” but he called in particular on the judicial body to “seek the truth” of the presidential vote.

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