The dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, through the Electoral Room of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) in the country, decided to suspend the counting of votes in the election for governor of Barinas, the home state of the late former president Hugo Chávez and where his family members have ruled for 20 years. The elections will have to be repeated in January, this time without the main opposition candidate, who was leading the projections with a narrow advantage.
The TSJ ordered the National Electoral Council (CNE) to suspend the processes of counting, adjudicating and proclaiming candidates for the state government, and ordered that this election be rerun on 9 January. The details of the local count of regional elections, held nine days ago, are unknown.
The measure was announced on the same day that the Chavez regime decided to “disqualify citizen Freddy Francisco Superlano Salinas from exercising any public office”, the opposition candidate who was ahead in the projections and claimed victory.
According to CNE projections, Superlano had 37.60% of the vote, narrowly leading the dispute with candidate Argenis Chávez, brother of Hugo Chávez, who appeared with 37.21%.
Freddy Superlano, who if victorious would put an end to the 20-year-old Chavista rule in the state of Barinas, will not be able to run in the new election that will be held in January, due to the disqualification imposed by the dictatorship.
A week after the elections, when the state of Barinas had not yet proclaimed the winner, Diosdado Cabello, number two in Chavismo, threatened to challenge the election results if there was an announcement of a very narrow victory for the opposition.
“We lose city halls by five votes (…) Wherever it is necessary to challenge, let it be challenged. Wherever we win by one vote, we will defend it. We don’t care what the whole world says”, warned Cabello, who is vice-president of the Party United Socialist of Venezuela (PSUV), in an interview with the party’s media echoed by Infobae, on Sunday.
Cabello said that Barinas is a “bastion of Chavismo”, commenting on the delay in disclosing the results of the state’s election.
On Monday, Venezuelan opponent Juan Guaidó said the TSJ’s decision to stop counting votes in Barinas is a demonstration that in the country “there is no rule of law”.
“The Maduro regime exposes itself for what it is, a vulgar dictatorship that snatches the will of the people who expressed themselves, even without conditions and in a very adverse manner,” said Guaidó.
“Alleged violation of rights”
In a statement, the TSJ said it had accepted a lawsuit for constitutional protection filed by politician Adolfo Ramón Superlano, considered a dissident of the opposition, and that he has no family ties with the opposing candidate, despite his surname. The action was filed “for the alleged violation of the constitutional rights to participation and suffrage” provided for in the Constitution and taking into account “the climate of tension between political activists”.
Last Friday, five days after the elections, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the National Electoral Board (JNE) would be in charge of counting the “missing minutes in the election of the governor of Barinas”.
The TSJ decision also states that the amparo action includes “the alleged existence of administrative and criminal proceedings and inquiries against” Freddy Superlano, who are “pending with the competent state bodies” and who assert that the candidate “is disqualified to hold any office public”.
Since last Monday, the CNE has confirmed the results of 22 of the 23 governorships and 334 of the 335 mayors, just missing the city hall of Arismendi and the government of Barinas.
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