The President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, requested a writ of amparo to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela, with which he seeks to clear any doubts about the past presidential elections of July 28, which according to the National Electoral Council (CNE) he won with 51.2% of the votes. This request was accepted by Judge Caryslia Rodríguez of the Supreme Court on Thursday August 1 and she has called on all 10 presidential candidates to appear in the Electoral Chamber of the court on Friday August 2 in the afternoon.
The request by Maduro seeks to dispel the accusations of electoral fraud launched by the local and international opposition and legitimize his re-election and the results of the CNE. Maduro has affirmed that the demonstrations in recent days in Venezuela protesting the results have been coordinated by certain opposition politicians and that what they intend is to provoke a coup d’état against his government.
Before the judges, Maduro said, “I have come before this chamber to introduce, as Head of State, a contentious electoral appeal based on the Constitution, the Organic Law of Electoral Processes, to the Organic Law of the Supreme Court of Justice, so that this electoral chamber immediately reviews the entire electoral process, and asks the CNE for all the elements that serve as evidence of the cybernetic attack, to ask for all the electoral reports and to review the entire [electoral] process”.
Maduro also said that the Grand Patriotic Pole, the alliance of political parties that backed his candidacy, is willing to deliver all of their vote tallies of all the polling stations to the TSJ.
In response to Maduro’s statements, Rodríguez affirmed that the TSJ knows “the commitment to peace, to democracy, to the homeland, and you can count on us to fully and faithfully comply with the constitution, as well as with all the norms of our legal system so that the Venezuelan people feel vindicated and that there can be…the guarantee that their vote and their will shall be respected.”
Members of the opposition have alleged that this appeal lacks legitimacy since the electoral tallies presented by the PSUV are allegedly manipulated. However, analysts have stated that this is just another attempt by the far-right to avoid presenting evidence to back up their claims of fraud. According to the unverified tallies and exit polls carried out by the far-right opposition, Edmundo González won the elections with 70% and Maduro only scored 30% – a significant difference from the results presented by the CNE and an enormous difference between the two candidates.
Given these considerations, Maduro requested all presidential candidates to present the minutes they have in their possession so that the TSJ may be the one to determine the reality of what happened last July 28. “I hope that the rest of the candidates and the political parties [also deliver all their minutes],” said Maduro.
