After the results from this Sunday’s elections in Venezuela were announced, the leader of the main international election observation group in Latin America released a report in which it concluded that the electoral process met both the Constitution and international standards.
The President of the Council of Electoral Experts of Latin America (CEELA), Nicanor Moscoso, reported this Monday, November 22, that after being in Venezuela for more than two months, he can conclude on behalf of the organization he represents, that the voting system was correctly audited on all 16 occasions.
“Regarding the security of voting process, we could verify that the voting cubicles were discreet and that each voter could cast their ballot in complete privacy without being seen by anybody else,” Moscoso stated. “The COVID-19 measures were adequate, the voting stations were appropriately closed, shutting down on time. Both the authorities and the general population ensured that the elections were carried out in an orderly fashion.”
He added that the electoral tables were properly arranged and that the staff ensured that the voters were correctly attended to.
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“Independent auditors with prestigious academic standing concluded that the voting system used for these elections was sound and could not be compromised,” he further mentioned.
In this regard, Moscoso reiterated that over the course of the elections, 40 different political organizations had contributed to vetting the legitimacy of the elections. Last Sunday night, he added, each of those groups had declared their satisfaction with the process.
“The live streaming of the auditing made the whole process more transparent, all of the auditing committees responded to the input from the technicians, 10 independent auditors concluded that the system was sound, robust, and secure,” Moscoso said. “The voting stations were duly organized and resources were appropriately distributed.”
#Ahora Anjuli Tostes, representante de la Asociación Brasileña de Juristas por la Democracia, presenta informe del Plan de Veeduría Internacional Electoral de las #EleccionesRegionalesyMunicipales2021 pic.twitter.com/4tWZwVJtUN
— cneesvenezuela (@cneesvzla) November 22, 2021
Among the recommendations they had received, he cited possible improvements to aspects such as regulatory reforms, implementing legal mechanisms to guarantee the equal distribution of promotional material, establishing economic incentives for the staff to perform dutifully, and adopting specific measures for people with disabilities.
#Ahora Héctor Alemán, en representación de la Conferencia Permanente de Partidos Políticos de América Latina (COPPAL), presenta informe del Plan de Veeduría Internacional Electoral de las #EleccionesRegionalesyMunicipales2021 pic.twitter.com/qijx0pMzNU
— cneesvenezuela (@cneesvzla) November 22, 2021
Similarly, Héctor Alemán, the President of the Permanent Conference of Political Parties of Latin America and the Caribbean (COPPPAL), also verified the transparency of the process in a separate report.
Other figures who oversaw the credibility of the elections were Vladimir Martínez, who represented the National Lawyers Guild, and Anjuli Tostes, who came in the name of the Brazilian Association of Legal Experts for Democracy.
Featured image: CEELA’s president Nicanor Moscoso on his brief about 21N Venezuela’s regional elections. Photo by CNE.
(Últimas Noticias) by Narkys Blanco
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/KW/SL
