The results management process by the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela did not comply with basic transparency and integrity measures which are essential for the holding of credible elections, points out the preliminary report of the UN Panel of Experts deployed in that country during the elections.
In the document released on Wednesday, the four electoral experts who make up the Panel present their first observations of the process during their stay in Venezuela, from the end of June to August 2, 2024.
According to that team, the election – dominated by the campaigns of President Nicolás Maduro, and the main opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, of the Democratic Unitary Platform – was characterized by Restrictions on civic and political spacewith the government campaign dominating state media, to which the opposition had very limited access.
Despite this inequality, observers reported a peaceful and enthusiastic pre-election period by the electorate.
Voting day
The day of the elections, July 28, was equally peaceful. The organization of the elections was Logistics and electronic voting system were well designed and reliableregistering a 59.97% share.
The report notes that while electronic transmission of results worked well at first, it came to an abrupt halt in the hours after the polling stations closed. without any explanation being given to the candidates.
Later, the president of the National Electoral Council indicated that the broadcast had been affected by a cyber attack which delayed the counting process but then postponed and cancelled three key audits that could have revealed details of the outside attack.
Winner Announcement
One day after the elections, with 80% of the voting tables countedthe CNE announced the victory of President Nicolás Maduro with 51.2% of the votes. Edmundo González obtained 44.2%. On August 2, the CNE confirmed this victory, with 51.95%.
The Panel notes, however, that the Council has not published and has not yet published any results to support these announcements made orally, thus contravening the electoral legal framework.
In addition to failing to meet transparency and integrity standards, the CNE did not follow national legal and regulatory provisions, and did not meet the deadlines set.
Results without details
“The announcement of the result of an election without the publication of its details or the disclosure of tabulated results to the candidates is unprecedented in contemporary democratic elections. This had a negative impact on outcome confidence announced by the CNE among a large part of the Venezuelan electorate,” the Panel maintains.
The Panel reports on the Electoral contentious appeal filed by President Nicolás Madurowhich seeks to review the process and verify the results. For now, there is no detailed information on how the evaluation will be carried out.
Regarding the information on the number of victims of the post-election protests, experts take note and clarify that they have not attempted to corroborate it.
The Panel, which had the cooperation of the Venezuelan authorities, will later present the Secretary General The UN will publish a comprehensive report that will cover the legal framework of the elections, the electoral register, the registration of candidates, the context of the campaign, electoral administration and the political participation of women.
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