Have this question been asked by those who affirm that Nicolás Maduro is a dictator, a usurper and that the period 2019-2025 lacks legitimacy? Or do they just repeat what they hear?
By: Pasqualina Curcio
The 12 countries meeting in Lima began to position this opinion trend. The statement read: “… the electoral process carried out in Venezuela on May 20, 2018 lacks legitimacy because it did not have the participation of all Venezuelan political actors, nor the presence of independent international observers, nor the international guarantees and standards necessary for a free, fair and transparent process.”
The leaders of the Venezuelan opposition, we refer to the non-democratic, repeat without rest, and of course without argument, that Maduro is an usurper.
In an act of despair, the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence is forced to personally call the opposition to march on January 23, due to the incompetence of the opposition leadership, insisted and repeated that President Nicolás Maduro is a dictator, usurper and is illegitimate.
The strategy is clear, repeat the lie a thousand times to make it true.
Let’s disassemble the lie:
- There were presidential elections. They were held on May 20, 2018, that is, before January 10, 2019, when in accordance with articles 230 and 231 of the Constitution expires the 2013-2019 presidential term. The Constitution was being violated if the elections had been held after January 10, 2019, or even worse, if they had not taken place.
It was the Venezuelan opposition that requested early elections. They were held in May and not December, as was traditionally the case, because it was the opposition that requested it, within the framework of the dialogue in the Dominican Republic, that took place in the first quarter of 2018.
In Venezuela, the vote is a right, it is not a duty. Those who freely, although influenced by some non-democratic political organizations that called for abstention, decided not to attend the elections are in their full right, but absolutely it doesn’t make illegitimate the electoral process, even more so when that would imply ignoring and disrespecting the 9,389,056 Venezuelans that decided to vote and exercised their right to vote democratically.
16 political parties participated in the electoral contest (PSUV), (MSV), (Tupamaro), (UPV), (Podemos), (PPT), (ORA), (MPAC), (MEP), (PCV), (AP), (MAS) (Copei) Hope for Change, (UPP89). In Venezuela it is not mandatory for all political parties to participate in the electoral processes. They are fully entitled to decide whether or not to participate. Precisely because our system is democratic. The fact that 3 parties (AD, VP and PJ) freely decided not to participate, does not illegitimate the electoral process.
6 candidates were nominated: Nicolás Maduro, Henri Falcón, Javier Bertucci, Reinaldo Quijada, Francisco Visconti Osorio and Luis Alejandro Ratti (the last two decided to retire at the end of the electoral race).
Maduro won with a wide margin, obtained 6,248,864 votes, 67.84%; Henri FalcĂłn followed with 1.927.958, 20.93%; Javier Bertucci with 1,015,895, 10.82% and Reinaldo Quijada who obtained 36,246 votes, 0.39% of the total. The difference between Maduro and FalcĂłn was 46.91 percentage points.
Some 150 international invitees accompanied the electoral process, including 14 electoral commissions from 8 countries; 2 electoral technical missions; 18 journalists from different parts of the world; 1 Eurodeputy and 1 technical-electoral delegation of the Central Electoral Board of Russia.
The elections were held with the same electoral system used in the December 2015 parliamentary elections, in which the Venezuelan opposition won. System that is automated and subjected to audits before, during and after the elections. System that guarantees the principles of “one elector, one vote” because only with the fingerprint the voting machine is unlocked forbidden the practice of one voter-multiple votes; and guarantees the “secret of the vote”.
18 audits were performed on the automated system. The representatives of the candidate Henri FalcĂłn participated in the 18 and signed the minutes in which they express their agreement with the electoral system. The audits are public and televised live on the channel of the National Electoral Council. Once the audits are done, the system is blocked and the only way to access it again is with the simultaneous introduction of the secret codes that each political organization has.
None of the candidates who participated in the electoral process contested the results. There is no evidence of fraud, they did not present any evidence or specific complaint of fraud.
The presidential elections of May 20, 2018 were free, transparent, reliable, safe, and in keeping with the Constitution and the laws, despite the anti-democratic call for abstention on the part of an opposition sector.
There are others who claim to usurp the office of President of the Republic with the argument of a supposed power vacuum, a figure that is not contemplated in our Constitution and the establishment of a “government of transition”, figure not even existing in the Magna Carta. As if that were not enough, they intend to exercise power outside our borders in violation of Article 18 of the Constitution that establishes that Caracas is the seat of public powers.
So, under this circumstances other are the usurpers, illegitimate and undemocratic.
It is illegitimate and it is an attempt of usurpation that some sectors of the opposition intend to sustain themselves in the support of foreign sectors from imperialist governments to exercise an authority that neither the people nor the Constitution give them.
Translated by JRE/AR
