Barred from the Ballot: Unlocking the Right to Vote for the Incarcerated

Barred from the Ballot: Unlocking the Right to Vote for the Incarcerated

This Wednesday, the Venezuelan Prisons Observatory (OVP) asked the National Electoral Council (CNE) guarantee the right to vote of prisoners eligible to participate in the electoral elections on July 28.

This is only allowed to those who are not sentenced, the organization recalled.

However, the general director of the OVP, Humberto Prado, specified that around 70% of the population in prisons, as well as 85% of those in detention cells, have no sentence and could vote.

In a statement, the NGO indicated that the Constitution establishes that the vote “It is a right and a duty of citizens, free, universal, direct and secret.” It also shows that the State must guarantee the “exercise of human rights” to all people.which includes “political participation, without discrimination.”

In the event that the right to vote of prisoners is not guaranteed – the OVP pointed out – “it would be going against the principles of equality, non-discrimination and justice that support Venezuela as a democratic and social country of Law and Justice”.

According to data from the CNE, for the presidential elections More than 21 million people registered in the Electoral Registry are called to vote.

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