The letter of good intentions that the Barbados Agreement seemed to contain is beginning to falter. The Chavismo-controlled Venezuelan Parliament denounced this Tuesday a “major fraud” in the opposition primaries held on Sunday. That day marked an important act of citizen mobilization and voters, with more than 90% of the vote, elected María Corina Machado as the unity candidate for the duel with Nicolás Maduro in 2024. But the Bolivarian apparatus did not like the vote. Less than a week after signing a document with the opposition forces that, among other things, expresses in black and white respect for the candidate selection mechanisms of each individual actor, Chavismo has launched an indictment of the process without nuance.
The President of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodríguez, assured this Tuesday that the opposition had increased the number of participants. In the Chamber of the Legislature, he displayed on a banner the number of votes he said could be registered on Sunday: just 598,350 votes, less than half the total turnout that the National Primary Commission announced in its second bulletin almost reports 1.6 million votes from 64.88% of the minutes counted. He also called Jesús María Casal, chairman of the organizing committee of the primaries, a “thief” and “hypocrite”: “He has committed a crime. “What they did on Sunday is a real disgrace.”
The head of the delegation negotiating with the opposition under the auspices of Norway also follows the line started on Monday by Cilia Flores, Maduro’s wife, who said on television that “those responsible for the fraud in this primary will answer to the authorities “the crime they committed.” President Maduro also disqualified the trial, calling it a “chronicle of an announced fraud.” There are other arguments of Chavismo that claim they are based on mathematics. For Rodríguez, who headed the National Electoral Council for several years, the installed capacity of 3,000 voting centers available this Sunday only allows a maximum of 860,000 votes. In addition, according to official measurements, there was “low influx” and almost “desert” in “almost 70%” of points. Previously, deputy Diosdado Cabello, vice president of the PSUV, had already published audio recordings of a conversation between unknown persons, which allegedly demonstrated the manipulation of some protocols during the vote.
“The parties recognize and respect the right of every political actor to choose their candidate for the presidential elections freely and in accordance with their internal mechanisms, taking into account the provisions of the Constitution and the law.”, says verbatim the first point of the agreement on electoral guarantees signed in Barbados last week. From Rodríguez’s perspective, however, it is the opposition that is breaking these pacts. “There is a blatant violation because the agreement states that a number of conditions must be met,” said the parliamentary speaker. “If they wanted to respect this agreement, they had to hold elections with the National Electoral Council, which, moreover, states in this Constitution that the CNE has the exclusive power to hold elections, precisely to prevent four crooks from coming to control the elections to steal.” People’s will.
These “exclusive” powers – a condition that can be questioned from a legal perspective – have already been used as an argument by the current president of the organization, Elvis Amoroso, in his response to the National Primary Commission when it decided to reject support for the organization of these Sunday elections, which were offered late a few days before they were held because it meant a postponement of the day.
Machado responded to complaints about irregularities on the part of the government, but also Carlos Prosperis, who came second in the election and did not declare himself the winner like his Democratic Action party and the other candidates. Specifically, he said of Chavismo: “They don’t even deceive their own people, who also went to the polls on October 22nd.”
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
Subscribe to
The National Primary Commission reported a blockage in the platform’s computing server on Sunday evening, which made data transfer difficult. Other organizations that monitor digital and connectivity rights in Venezuela also reported a massive decline in state-run Cantv, the country’s main internet provider. So far, the final number of participants and the distribution of votes among the candidates are not known, but the organizers have announced that they will respond to the government’s statements at a press conference this Wednesday. The primaries, which had to be conducted uphill, were finally held and were able to attract thousands of people who, especially in popular neighborhoods, lined up for hours in rain and sunshine to express their desire for change in Venezuela. The uncertainty and threats about what comes after Sunday continue.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Xor in our weekly newsletter.