TSJ declares Edmundo González in contempt for not appearing before the Electoral Chamber

The president of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), Caryslia Rodríguez, declared Edmundo González Urrutia “in contempt” this Saturday after failing to appear before the Electoral Chamber or deliver the requested electoral material.

“It is noted that former candidate Edmundo González did not attend, disregarding the mandate of the highest authority of the electoral contentious jurisdiction of Venezuela. Consequently, he did not comply with the submission of minutes and any electoral material,” he said at a press conference.

The magistrate also reported that leaders Manuel Rosales, from the Un Nuevo Tiempo party, José Luis Cartaya, from the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, and José Simón Calzadilla, from the Movement for Venezuela, did respond to the call, but did not provide any electoral evidence. “They stated that they did not have the minutes of the scrutiny or lists, claiming that they did not participate in the process of transferring and safeguarding the material,” she stated.

He stressed that he will review the documents presented by political organizations and former candidates to make a decision at the end of the “validation” process of the July 28 elections, whose official result ratified the victory of Nicolás Maduro, which has been questioned inside and outside the country.

“The magistrates of this Electoral Chamber are engaged in the expert examination of all the material submitted – in physical and digital form – regarding the massive cyber attack that the National Electoral Council (CNE) was subjected to,” he said, before the diplomatic corps accredited in the country.

He also reiterated that the CNE – which has not yet published the disaggregated results of the election, contrary to what its own schedule established – went to the TSJ to “timely record all the requirements related to the electoral process.”

The Supreme Court president stressed that neither González Urrutia nor the PUD – who claim to have won the elections by a wide margin – submitted “any electoral material”, since the coalition insists that the TSJ is incompetent to address this matter, which – they claim – should be clarified by the CNE with the publication of the disaggregated results.