The administration of Nicolás Maduro said on Tuesday that the UN panel of experts “is spreading a series of lies,” after the group said that the management of results by the country’s electoral authorities in the July 28 presidential elections lacked the “basic measures of transparency and integrity that are essential to hold credible elections.”
In a statement, the Executive said that the panel of experts violated “the terms of reference signed with the Electoral Power” by publishing this preliminary report, contrary to what was planned, while preparing a final version for the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, which will not be public.
The Executive also noted that the panel had access to “all phases of the process,” in which Nicolás Maduro emerged victorious, according to the National Electoral Council (CNE).
“The opinion expressed in your irresponsible writing is nothing more than an act of propaganda that serves the coup interests of the Venezuelan far right, with which you interacted constantly before, during and after the aforementioned elections,” he said.
He also said that the group had “direct contacts, via telephone and video conferences, with officials of the State Department,” which is why “there is no doubt that their statements are the product of hostile instructions issued by this agency.”
“This attack on democracy, carried out by false electoral experts, will also fail, and justice and respect for the sovereign will of its people will prevail in Venezuela,” Caracas added.
The panel’s report notes that the announcement of the result, made through two bulletins on July 29 and August 2, respectively, “without the publication of its details or the delivery of tabulated results to the candidates, is unprecedented in contemporary democratic elections.”
In this regard, he explains that the CNE’s announcements consisted of oral communications without any infographic support, and since then the electoral body has not published “any results (or results broken down by polling station)” to support it.
This, they continue, “had a negative impact on confidence in the result (…) among a large part of the electorate.”
The panel of experts stressed that it had been able to observe a small sample of the minutes, including those published by the Democratic United Platform, which, according to the opposition bloc, declared its standard-bearer, Edmundo González Urrutia, the winner.
The UN panel concluded that the revised minutes “exhibit all the security features of the original results protocols.”
The report noted that the panel, which remained in Venezuela from late June until August 2, was invited by the CNE and was not an electoral observer mission, and therefore was not established to issue a public judgment on the outcome of the election.
Maduro’s proclaimed victory for a third consecutive term has also been questioned by several foreign governments and by the Carter Center, which participated as an observer.
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2024-08-29 11:59:01
