The Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela suspended this Monday, October 30, the results of the opposition primary elections, in which María Corina Machado was the winner. The judges accepted the contentious electoral appeal presented by a deputy from the same opposition for alleged electoral fraud due to the alleged irregular increase in participants on the day of October 22. At the same time, the Public Ministry is collecting versions to investigate a possible crime.
“Inflated figures and more irregularities.” This is the complaint by the Venezuelan opposition deputy, José Brito, about the primary process held by the opposition on Sunday, October 22, in which María Corina Machado emerged as the winner.
Brito announced his candidacy for the presidency to face the current president, Nicolás Maduro, in the 2024 general elections. But in June he was left out of the process organized by the National Primary Commission (CNP). Since then, he has denounced alleged “electoral fraud” in the election of the opposition presidential candidate.
Once the first results were announced, Brito denounced that the numbers of people who participated in the primaries were inflated. Immediately, he filed a contentious electoral appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), an organization that accepted the claim this Monday, October 30, and gave way to the request for precautionary protection. In ruling 122, the electoral chamber of the TSJ decided to suspend all the effects of the different phases of the electoral process conducted by the National Primary Commission.
Allegations of irregularities in the number of participants in the primaries
Brito explained that the objective of the appeal is for Justice to review everything that he considers to be irregularities within the process. The main one, he said, “the fait accompli of blatantly inflating participation figures.”
The National Commission that organized the primaries launched its second official bulletin on October 23 at 7:11 p.m. With 64.88% of the minutes counted, more than 1.5 million Venezuelans had voted. For Brito, “mathematically it is impossible” for such a level of participation to exist up to that percentage of minutes.
He explained, for example, that in some centers the electoral material ran out before finishing the process and there was not 100% attendance at the polling stations. To date there is no exact figure for the number of participants. On October 24, the National Commission published its third and last official bulletin in which it says that there were 2.4 million Venezuelans, in the country and abroad, who voted in these primaries, with a little more than 92% of the votes cast. scrutinized.
COMMUNICATION / The National Primary Commission issues its third and final bulletin of results of the Primary Election of October 22 pic.twitter.com/DvhgTCAk6P
— VE National Primary Commission (@cnprimariave) October 25, 2023
“What was the need to inflate the figures? They are going to put us in a dead end,” Brito claimed in interviews with local media.
At the same time, the opposition deputy also filed a complaint with the Public Ministry to investigate a possible crime. In addition, he asked that they analyze the responsibility of the civil organization Súmate, which would have interfered in the results of the primaries, he denounces.
“That Commission (National Primary Commission) gave in to blackmail, pressure and, furthermore, the manipulation of an NGO called Súmate and what could have been the opportunity for a great national meeting, for the consolidation of an electoral route, today “It has become a great scam for the nation,” he claimed.
This Monday morning, several members of the Primary Organizing Commission were called to give their version. The president of the CNP, Jesús María Casal; the vice president, Mildred Camero; as well as the president of Súmate, Roberto Abdul-Hadi, arrived at the Public Ministry building. In a statement, the CNP asked citizens to stay at home, while they present the information about the process to the requesting entities, in a message to avoid protests or any demonstration that could cause confrontations in Caracas and other cities in the country.
María Corina Machado, winner of the primaries
With 92.35%, which means 2.2 million votes of support, María Corina Machado was proclaimed the winner of the opposition primary elections on October 27. “We fought a noble fight that was an example of the Venezuela that we are going to build, where we can contrast ideas passionately, but with respect. Now we are all rowing in the same direction,” said Machado, who has a disqualification imposed by the Comptroller’s Office in 2015, which prevents him from holding elected positions and competing in elections for 15 years.
Regarding his case, ruling 122 of the TSJ also asks the National Commission to send information about the process, from the administrative background of all the primary phases, including the Acceptance Record of Machado’s application.
Although she could not participate in these elections due to her disability, the Commission decided to ignore her. The CNP said they are “unconstitutional sanctions and contrary to international human rights standards.” However, they considered that “they are not an obstacle to participating in the primary election.” So they decided to qualify their candidacy.
The Government rejected the primary process and anti-Chavismo denounces a new blockade
President Nicolás Maduro described the opposition as “selling a mega-fraud to the world” and asked for transparency for those who participated in this process. The president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Jorge Rodríguez, also joined in and said that there was an alleged alteration in the number of votes cast.
They agree with Brito that the participation figures were inflated. According to Rodríguez, the capacity of the 3,010 voting centers allowed them to gather a maximum of 860,000 votes and, in addition, the turnout would have been 70%.
For its part, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), which brings together the Venezuelan opposition, claimed that the Government intends to “make invisible the will” of Venezuelans in the face of what they consider to be more blockades for transparent and free presidential elections.
“More than two and a half million Venezuelans expressed themselves forcefully inside and outside the national territory. Attacking the primary will not prevent achieving change,” said the platform, supporting the number of participants.
From the Democratic Unitary Platform, we fully support the @cnprimariavemade up of honorable women and men, who, in a transparent and integral manner, successfully carried out the Primary election on October 22, where more than 2.5 million… pic.twitter.com/8y65Fx2prE
— Unidad Venezuela (@unidadvenezuela) October 27, 2023
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