Venezuela is holding a rehearsal this Sunday for the presidential elections on July 28, in which the president Nicolás Maduro will seek a third six-year term.
According to the criteria of
In the trial, which began at 08:00 local time (12:00 GMT), 21,392,464 million citizens are called to vote in 1,174 centers with 3,006 tables enabled throughout the country.
“Anyone who wants to, a Venezuelan with an ID card, can go to the polling station, can go and do the simulation so that they become familiar with this machine that will be used on July 28,” said the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, to the press when announcing the installation of “100% of the machines” for electronic voting.
The participation of the socialist president Maduro is expected in the trial, but not that of his main rival, Edmundo González Urrutia, supported by the opposition leader María Corina Machado after her disqualification.
González Urrutia will lead an event with workers in Bolívar (south). His party, the Unitary Platform (PUD), announced that it will only participate in the simulation of “technical nature” to “evaluate some aspects of the electoral process.”
Citizens wait in line to participate in the electoral simulation this Sunday, in Caracas (Venezuela).
Photo:
“Although we will not be holding mobilizations (…) any citizen who wants to participate can do so,” the PUD added in a statement. The ruling party, for its part, called on its supporters to participate actively.
“This process (…) allows all the technical components of the electoral platform to be tested,” commented the former CNE rector and PUD advisor, Roberto Picón, to AFP after voting.
“The process is working well,” he said. The participation of the other eight candidates who will face Maduro and who are accused of being collaborators by the traditional opposition is also expected.
The drill has the observation of the UN, the Carter Center and other national organizations, according to Amoroso.
The electoral authority did not specify how many members there are of these observation missions, in which the European Union (EU) was initially also to participate, but the invitation to the bloc was withdrawn after it ratified sanctions against 50 Venezuelan officials.
The campaign atmosphere, which officially begins on July 4, is marked by accusations of “persecution,” arrests and disqualifications by the opposition, while the government accuses it of being behind conspiratorial acts.
Citizens arrive to vote in the electoral simulation this Sunday, in Caracas (Venezuela).
Photo:
International observers are deployed in Venezuela for the electoral simulation
The president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela, Elvis Amoroso, said that international observers from various organizations are deployed this Sunday throughout the national territory for the simulation that is being carried out in view of the presidential elections on July 28.
Amoroso assured that the observers can go and verify the voting centers during the simulation, since -he assured- the CNE rectors have “interest” in having them see the process.for which, however, the invitation to the European Union (EU) to send an observation mission was cancelled.
Among the missions deployed are the Carter Center, the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (Ceela), African organizations, UN representatives and others, according to the official, who did not specify the number of people deployed.
The official also reported that 100 percent of the voting machines have been installed in 1,174 polling stations and reminded citizens that they can participate in the simulation by presenting only their identity card, even if it is expired.
For the presidential elections on July 28, The Carter Center mission reported that it will not conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the voting, counting and tabulation processes given its limited size and scope.while the UN will send a mission of four electoral experts, but their report will remain confidential.
According to Amoroso, the cancellation of the invitation to the EU occurred due to the ratification of personal and individual sanctions by the community bloc against members of the Government and the ruling party.
Although the president of the CNE stated, when the invitation was cancelled, that the EU sanctions harm the Venezuelan people and accentuate the crisis in the country, these have no effect on public goods or state companies, so they have no impact. on the well-being of citizens nor do they affect their interests.
In 2021, when the same individual sanctions were already in place for officials and various politicians, an EU mission was deployed to all the states of the country to monitor the regional election process.
On July 28, 10 candidates for the Presidency will participate, including President Nicolás Maduro, who is seeking re-election and will face former ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia, the candidate of the main opposition coalition.
EFE AND AFP
#Venezuela #conducts #electoral #simulation #ahead #July #presidential #elections