Venezuelan electoral official condemns 'grave lack of transparency' in Nicolás Maduro's re-election
MIAMI — A Venezuelan electoral official has denounced what he calls a “grave lack of transparency” in last month’s presidential vote in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner despite evidence he was trounced by the main opposition candidate.
MIAMI — A Venezuelan electoral official has denounced what he calls a “grave lack of transparency” in last month’s presidential vote in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner despite evidence he was trounced by the main opposition candidate.
Juan Carlos Delpino is one of five members of the National Electoral Council, or CNE in Spanish, and the only one who prior to the vote had shown a willingness to go against the wishes of Maduro’s government.
On Monday, he published on social media a letter detailing several alleged irregularities before and on the day of the July 28 election. He said polling centers were slow to report results from automated voting machines while several opposition volunteers were banished, in violation of electoral rules guaranteeing the transparent transmission of tallies to CNE headquarters.
Delpino said he was informed that the hourslong delay was caused by a supposed hacking of the CNE platform and that only 58% of results had been collected. He said he decided in protest not to join his fellow rectors in monitoring the vote-counting from the CNE data hub or attending the midnight press conference when CNE President Elvis Amoroso, a ruling party loyalist, declared Maduro the winner.
“I deeply regret that the results don’t serve the Venezuelan people, that they don’t help resolve our differences or promote national unity but instead fuel doubts in the majority of Venezuelans and the international community,” Delpino wrote.
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