Venezuelan Supreme Court suspends results of opposition primaries

Opposition primaries took place on the 22nd in Venezuela, identifying Maria Corina Machado as the opposition to dictator Nicolás Maduro in the 2024 elections.| Photo: Prensa Miraflores/EFE

The Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) on October 22 ordered the suspension of “all effects of the various stages of the electoral process conducted by the National Primary Committee (CNP).”

The decision comes after the university accepted the appeal submitted by opposition MP Jose Brito, who requested a reconsideration of “irregularities” in the electoral process.

According to Judgment No. 122 of the TSJ Electoral Chamber, published on the website of the Federal Supreme Court, the opposition election organizing committee must record “the administrative history, containing the 25 stages of the electoral process” of the primaries, starting from the call from the event to the minutes of the audit and the summary And advertising.

Moreover, they must submit to the Supreme Court a record of the acceptance of the candidacy of candidates who have been excluded from holding elected office by the Comptroller’s Office, as is the case with the winner of the internal elections, Maria Corina Machado, who is subject to this administrative procedure imposed in 2015 for a year, and then removed. Recently extended until 2030.

Likewise, they must submit the resignation of the candidates Henrique Capriles and Freddy Soberlano, who refused to participate in the vote just a few weeks before the election, and who were also disqualified, as well as the resignation of “any other citizen who decided to abandon his candidacy.” .

The Supreme Court gives the Philippine National Police three days to submit a report explaining “the mechanism used to protect electoral materials and the site designated for this purpose.”

The Venezuelan Supreme Court also ordered that Attorney General Tarek William Saab and other public authorities in the country be notified of the ruling, so that they would be aware of the representative’s complaints.

According to Brito, the opposition’s electoral process constitutes “the practice of electoral crimes and the alleged practice of public crimes,” without specifying the type of violations committed. (EFE Agency)