Electoral technicians and retired officials of the National Electoral Council (CNE) grouped in the Electoral Technical Volunteering (Vote) warned that a possible new appointment of the electoral body would be “untimely”, as well as “arbitrary and unconstitutional”.
The former CNE legal consultant, Celiz Mendoza, a member of VOTE, recalled that article 296 of the Constitution, like article 8 of the Organic Law of Electoral Power (LOPE) establish that the members of the CNE will last seven years in the exercise of their functions.
He alerted that from the statements of the president of the National Assembly (AN) of 2020, Jorge Rodriguez, It seems to be clear that it would be a total renewal of the current board of the electoral body, appointed only in 2021. He stressed that the rectors can only be removed from office by the AN prior pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ).
“The country is in shock at the possible execution of extemporaneously renewing the CNE, without complying with the Constitutional and legal regulations that regulate the procedure and period for the execution of such an important act,” the former official said in a statement.
They cannot force the resignation
VOTE indicated as the only causes of removal of electoral directors those contemplated in article 32 of the LOPE: Be subject to interdiction or political disqualification; join directly or indirectly to organizations with political ends; directly or indirectly receive benefits from any type of person or organization that compromises independence.
Another cause is having been criminally convicted with a definitive sentence for the commission of intentional crimes or having been declared administratively responsible by decision of the Comptroller General of the Republic.
“The only way that a rector or all the rectors and their respective substitutes of that Body can be replaced is by resigning from office and even so they would have to present to the country the reasons they had to resign collectively, but if that is not the case , and if they are not involved in any cause for removal, they will not be able to force them to resign, “says the citizen group.
At a press conference on January 9, the president of the 2020 AN, Jorge Rodríguez, assured that in conversations with various sectors of the opposition, the proposal to designate a new CNE for the presidential elections emerged and that the Parliament with a majority of Chavismo approved it. would evaluate.
In his annual message to the AN on January 12, the ruler Nicolas Maduro He also mentioned the issue and warned that the only Parliament with competence for the appointment is the one chaired by Rodríguez and not the AN of 2015 that extended his mandate for another year.
VOTE insisted that the Legislative Branch cannot “ipso facto” remove electoral rectors. He indicated that even if the aforementioned causes of removal are established, the TSJ must rule beforehand because they have the prerogative of pre-trial on merit, according to article 11 of the LOPE.
autonomous power
“Any removal without complying with the due process must be considered as a dismissal, and every dismissal brings with it a serious cause that supports it (…) if the official is not involved in a serious or even minor act, there are not sufficient reasons to consider it as an act that allows the Assembly its removal, and consequently to the Court (…) It is considered an arbitrary and unconstitutional removal, “says the statement.
The group also recalled that the CNE is the Electoral Power and according to the Constitution, it must be autonomouswith administrative and budgetary independence, like the other branches of the Public Power, so that the AN cannot interrupt its exercise or its constitutional period.
“Shortening the constitutional terms is violating the Constitution, it is a fact that undermines the rule of law, it is creating legal, social and economic chaos, which further aggravates our political situation in the country, since we would place ourselves in a state of total defenselessness , of legal uncertainty because the constitutional thread is broken and with the risk of turning the country into a totalitarian state,” Mendoza concluded.
