They ask the CNE to guarantee the right to vote for those deprived of liberty

The Venezuelan Prison Observatory (OVP) has asked the National Electoral Council (CNE) to guarantee voting rights to the prison population that has not been sentenced, with 18 days to go until the presidential elections, unlike prisoners who are sentenced, who are not allowed to vote by law.

The OVP director general, Humberto Prado, explained that people who have not been sentenced are “70%” of the population that “is in prison” and “85%” of those who are in “the cells”, which is why the NGO asked the CNE to guarantee this population the right to vote, since being in prison they are in “a vulnerable condition”.

In a statement, the OVP recalled that the Constitution establishes that voting “is a right and a duty of citizens, free, universal, direct and secret” and establishes that the State must guarantee all people the “exercise of human rights”, which includes -according to the NGO- “political participation, without discrimination.”

In addition, the OVP emphasized that the Venezuelan State “must guarantee” that unconvicted prisoners “enjoy and enjoy their rights,” and therefore must “implement measures to guarantee the right to vote.”

“Otherwise, it would be going once morest the principles of equality, non-discrimination and justice that sustain Venezuela as a democratic and social country of law and justice,” said the NGO.

For the presidential elections on July 28, 21,620,705 Venezuelans are called to vote, who will elect who will govern the country for the next six years, which has been in the hands of Chavismo for a quarter of a century.

With information from EFE and Alberto News.