The situation in Venezuela is becoming more complicated every day. The crisis covers different areas, and the systematic violation of human rights is merging with the migration crisis, while the right to freedom of expression and respect for the vote as a fundamental factor of a democratic system have been dynamited. This because of the notorious electoral fraud carried out by Nicolás Maduro on July 28, when he transformed an overwhelming defeat into a supposed victory of which there is no proof, given that the National Electoral Council (CNE) under the control of the executive branch has hijacked all the mechanisms for verifying the electoral result. It has them, and it hides them.
It has been said clearly, but it never hurts to review the episode of the July 28 election. The National Electoral Council declared Maduro’s victory without showing any disaggregated results, by electoral center, as the law states. This is an absolutely unusual event in an electoral process in Venezuela, which flagrantly violates electoral legislation. On election day, when the results were announced, the president of the CNE, one of the most visible members of Maduro’s party, declared Maduro’s victory by simply presenting a final number, without any support, while stating that he would soon present the results for each voting center, that is, the so-called voting records. This never happened. The figures, which are contained in the organization’s computer memories, have been illegally retained.
However, at the close of the electoral act, the system produces several receipts with the results of each voting center, and gives one to each party. For its part, the campaign command of Edmundo González Urrutia has presented more than 80% of the voting records. It should be repeated that these are the records issued by the electoral organization itself and with all the required security mechanisms, that is, they are official documents, not partisan speculation. They reflect a victory for González Urrutia with more than two thirds of the votes cast. These are the minutes that have served as the basis for statements by various United Nations bodies, the High Commissioner for Foreign Relations of the European Union, the Carter Center, and governments such as those of Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, the United States, Panama, Paraguay, Estonia and Ecuador, among others, in which they have demanded the presentation of the minutes as an essential requirement for recognizing a winner in the Venezuelan election.
This is the current situation: the minutes are still being held hostage by Maduro, and the international community is demanding that he present them. HE WILL NOT DO SO, because by focusing the demand on the minutes, Maduro “paralyzes” the development of events by simply not showing them, and in a scheme of paralysis, he gains time and increases the repression against anyone who expresses their discontent with the situation.
This leads us to two reflections:
First: the democratic community, national and international, must move beyond the issue of the minutes and move on to request the United Nations to carry out a verification of the voting materials by independent experts, in order to formally record the popular will expressed through the vote.
Second: It is common for some international organizations to direct their efforts, with the best intentions, towards the search for a negotiated solution that has the support of both sectors. This, without a doubt, is the option that should prevail in a situation in which the actors, in good faith, respect at least partially the agreements. However, as we have pointed out, Nicolás Maduro has taken a de facto path, the hijacking of the results, as a factor that limits the options for a reasonable negotiation. The hijacking of the results is a path of force that reveals the futility of trying to forge agreements with Maduro. It is clear that in this way, the actions of the international community become more difficult, more complex, but expecting the complacency of someone who repeatedly demonstrates his violation of the most basic democratic principles in order to seek solutions brings to the fore a fundamental principle: the responsibility to protect. Democracy in Venezuela is hijacked.