Shadows of Deceit: Leaked Election Minutes Expose Venezuela’s Darkest Secret

Clarion

New York.-The Carter Center, an independent organization that promotes democracy around the world and served as an international observer of the Venezuelan presidential elections, presented to the Organization of American States minutes of the elections that the Venezuelan government has so far refused to show. Nicolás Maduro to endorse his alleged victory.

Before a session of the OAS Permanent Council convened by almost a dozen countries to address the situation in the South American country, the Center reiterated that the Venezuelan electoral process lacked transparency and said that the refusal of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to show the minutes violates international standards.

“The electronic voting system worked,” said Jennie Lincoln, a Center expert who led the 17-person observation mission. “The government of Venezuela… the opposition political parties and all witnesses and observers in the 30,026 voting precincts know the true results of the July 28 elections.”

The Carter Center and a small delegation from the United Nations (UN) were the only independent electoral experts authorized by the Maduro government to observe the elections.

Two days after the elections, the Center issued a report in which it assured that the elections were not democratic and it could not corroborate or verify the results due to the refusal of the electoral authorities to publish the information contained in each record as they had done in previous presidential elections.

Lincoln said the Center recently received the minutes through international mail, but did not clarify who sent them to him or how he obtained them. He stated that the group will issue a new report soon.

The Center did not immediately respond to a request from The Associated Press seeking more details.

The CNE proclaimed Maduro president-elect for a third six-year term, which was ratified by the Supreme Court of Justice. Both organizations are related to the government.

So far the CNE has not presented the official minutes despite the demands of the international community.

The opposition has stated that its candidate, former diplomat Edmundo González, won the elections resoundingly. At the beginning of September González went into exile in Spain, where he requested diplomatic asylum.

The Center deployed its observers in Caracas, Maracaibo, Barinas and Valencia. They arrived a little more than a month before the vote and maintained their independent role by having access to the different presidential campaigns, electoral authorities, civil society, academics and political analysts.

“Venezuela’s electoral voting system is excellent,” Lincoln said before the OAS Council. He explained that each record provides a summary of the information on the votes of the tables and that copies of these records are printed and delivered to all observers of the different political parties represented, witnesses and observers. “All political parties can calculate the total votes from the minutes they obtain” from each of the 30,026 voting precincts. “These minutes are key,” he considered.

He said that each of these minutes has a QR code that allows witnesses and observers to collect the information that was produced by the CNE. Thus, although the system is electronic, it allows obtaining paper proof of what the electronic machines accessed by both the ruling party and the opposition report, the expert explained.

However, “the CNE only provided an election report after midnight to announce a victory for Nicolás Maduro” with 51% of the votes, against González’s 44%, he indicated.

Lincoln stated that the original minutes were obtained and analyzed by the opposition and by independent observers, with information from the CNE, and that they show that González won with 67% of the votes while Maduro obtained 31%. He indicated that this information is available to table witnesses and observers “who do not declare the results of the elections.”

After listening to Lincoln, who is the Carter Center’s senior advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, and Carolina Jiménez Sandoval, president of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), several of the representatives of The countries and the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, raised their voices to call for democracy in Venezuela and denounce human rights violations in that nation.

The Penal Forum – a non-governmental organization for legal assistance and defense of human rights in Venezuela – has registered 1,723 detainees from July 29 to September 23. The Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office has accused these people of being part of alleged conspiratorial plots and violent acts.

The OAS session was convened at the request of Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador. Clarion.