The electoral dispute: A manual of arbitrariness

For the first time since democracy was established in Venezuela with the elections of December 7, 1958, the designation of the President of the Republic will depend on a blow from a sledgehammer in a cold courtroom.

And it is that after the announcement of the National Electoral Council (CNE), with its two bulletins, which declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the contest on July 28, 2024, the electoral refereeHe has visibly failed to present the results table by table, or instead, to publish the minutes of the counting.

The CNE also failedl not providing the representatives of the candidate parties with the final minutes with tabulated results, which was required to be done no later than 48 hours after the election. The subsequent audits provided for in the legal system were also not carried out.

Instead, Nicolás Maduro went to the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), with the intention of “certifying” the election and “whatever the court says is holy word.”

Is this remedy legal? What is the aim of the regime?

What Maduro demands

Acceso a la Justicia is a private, independent, non-profit civil association founded in 2010 that is dedicated to monitoring the administration of justice and the rule of law in Venezuela. The organization has studied the legal implications of the case.

The electoral contentious resource is “a brief, summary and effective means to challenge the acts, actions and omissions of the National Electoral Council (CNE) and to reestablish the subjective legal situations harmed by it, in relation to the constitution, operation and cancellation of organizations with political purposes“, the electoral body stated on its website, before being blocked.

Access to Justice explains that this electoral contentious resource is designed to exercise judicial control of electoral processes, actions or omissions of the CNE derived from them, as well as to reestablish or correct situations that affect rights or cause damages resulting from actions or omissions of the electoral referee.

For this reason, consider as a contradiction that Maduro takes this action to confirm the results of an election in which the CNE won.

The association says that admission order issued by the Electoral Chamber24 hours after it was introduced, it can be deduced that the ruler’s request is aimed at opening an “investigation and verification process to certify in an unrestricted manner the results of the electoral process carried out on July 28, 2024”, but in accordance with the Lopre and the Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice (LOTSJ), which are the laws that regulate this matter, The electoral contentious appeal does not have that purpose.

The jurisdiction

Access to Justice has also put its magnifying glass on the jurisdiction of the Electoral Chamber in the matter and points out that until the electoral body concludes the process of totalization, adjudication and proclamation of the winner of the presidential elections, the highest court lacks jurisdiction.

And in that sense, although The CNE issued a second bulletin on August 2 with 96.87% of the resultsclaiming not to be able to report on everything due to an alleged “cyber attack” to the automated system, The process has not yet been concluded, since the electoral body has not reported the complete results in the Electoral Gazette, which it must do 30 days after the elections. In addition, it has not carried out the post-election audits established in the schedule.

Therefore, according to the association, by admitting the TSJ an electoral contentious appeal to “certify in an unrestricted manner the results of the electoral process carried out on July 28, 2024”, lThe Electoral Chamber usurps functions of the CNE, since it has not completed its work according to the law.

This opinion is supported by the former president of the Supreme Court of Justice, Cecilia Sosa Gómez. “The Organic Law of Electoral Power states that the CNE has the obligation to totalize, adjudicate and proclaim according to the minutes of scrutiny”he explained.

“What is the Electoral Chamber doing here?”he asked. “There is no definitive act,” he stressed, given the evident failures of the electoral body.

The former judge pointed out that “This whole thing about the Electoral Chamber is really sad” and says that he does not understand why the TSJ notified and summoned the candidates to deliver the minutes. “Now they are talking about an expert opinion. An expert opinion of what? If it were competent –the Electoral Chamber- it would have to appoint a commission so that the CNE would deliver all the minutes, but the Electoral Chamber cannot replace the CNE, for that it is an autonomous power”he said.

What purpose would the TSJ’s decision serve?

For the political actors who support Edmundo González’s candidacy, the action before the TSJ has to do with validating the results of the elections that give Maduro the victory, hiding the electoral records.

Simon Calzadilla, secretary general of the Movement for Venezuela (MPV), one of the parties supporting González Urrutia’s candidacy, highlighted: “The parties and candidates still do not have the total tabulated record by table, as indicated by the Lopre, which must be completed within 48 hours.”.

He says: “We are facing a state of defenselessness where the CNE hides the electoral results from each table from all participants, from the voters, from the country and from the international community, but more seriously now, the TSJ intends to deprive the parties and candidates of their only record and with which they can verify the results.”

He reiterated that this state of defenselessness and concealment has been carried out with the institutional contribution of the Executive, Judicial and Electoral Branches.

This work is the product of an alliance with Efecto Cocuyo