Irregularities in the installation of polling stations in Táchira state

Luzfrandy Contreras / FOR

This Friday, July 26, the process of installing polling stations began throughout the national territory. In the specific case of the state of Táchira, Some incidents were reported regarding the denial of entry to accredited witnesses, the use of accidental witnesses, or the total absence of witnesses due to lack of accreditation, as is the case of the Western Penitentiary Center -CPO-, one of the new voting centers.

According to information provided by National Assembly deputy Gustavo Rangel, Due to a power shortage, there was a delay in the Samuel Dario Maldonado municipalitywhich delayed the start of the installation by a few hours.

He denounced some situations that the table witnesses had witnessed, since several of them could not download their accreditation. «In the entire state of Táchira, 98% of our witnesses have already been accredited, but there are still voting centers where witnesses have not been allowed to be accredited due to technical failures in the National Electoral Council (CNE) system. We call on the CNE to solve these failures as soon as possible and allow the accreditation of the remaining witnesses.»

She reported that the Western Penitentiary Center has not allowed the accreditation of witnesses, and the process of confirmation of the tables has not been able to begin. In the municipality of Junín, the case of a citizen was known who, even when she presented her credential, was excluded by the coordinator of the voting center.

Accidental witnesses replaced by official ones

Another irregularity recorded in the confirmation of the voting tables is the substitution of accidental witnesses by official ones. From the Jáuregui municipality and the García de Hevia municipality, citizens reported that officials of the Plan República received the credentials of the witnesses, but when scanning the bar code they apparently did not appear in the system, this caused the substitution of the witnesses by others already accredited as accidental who took their places.

Machine changes due to failures

In at least two voting centers, failures were recorded regarding the voting machines, specifically in the Andrés Bello municipality, La Auyamala sector, where citizens had to wait a few minutes to complete the confirmation process.

80% of the tables were formed

Despite these irregularities, more than 80% of the polling stations in the municipalities of Táchira state were installed, as reported by Deputy Gustavo Rangel. “We call for calm from our witnesses and polling station members, and we urge them to use the law and citizen participation as legal instruments within the framework of respect and understanding. We also urge Plan República to seek solutions for these situations and allow the complete installation of the polling stations,” he said.