Press conference involving the Venezuelan opposition's self-styled National Primaries Commission. Photo: File photo.
The former vice-president of the Venezuelan opposition’s National Primaries Commission (CNP), María Carolina Uzcátegui, has complained of procedural irregularities in the opposition’s primary election, scheduled for October 22.
Uzcátegui expressed her criticisms of the Venezuelan opposition’s internal process at a press conference held this Thursday, September 7. It was her first press conference following her resignation from the vice presidency of the CNP in July, due to disagreements with the CNP board on the use of technical assistance from the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE). At that time, she had cited logistical problems in carrying out the elections without CNE assistance, and warned that the results could be tampered with if the voting process was held without CNE’s technical support.
“Unfortunately, 45 days before the primary process, we find ourselves in a situation that indicates there would be too many problems and too many inconveniences in the process, Uzcátegui said at the press conference.
🗳 María Carolina Uzcátegui: los centros de votación designados no representan lo que el país solicita.
🗣 "A 45 días de realizarse el proceso de primarias, nos encontramos con una situación que podría concluir en la no realización del proceso".#Primarias2023 pic.twitter.com/zQZ4uUo4zq
— 𝙋𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙖 (@polianalitica) September 7, 2023
The former CNP official pointed out that the electoral calendar for the primaries was made under the assumption of an automated voting procedure, with CNE assistance, and not for self-managed elections with manual voting.
She also commented that the CNP is not working to unify the opposition, and is instead trying to impose a leadership.
“The primaries have become a bid of vested interests,” Uzcátegui criticized. “Today, the country is wondering whether the candidate or the new leader of the opposition is going to be chosen so that [the opposition] can deviate from the democratic path.”
Although she complained of vested interests, she did not name anyone in particular, and only indicated that there are groups that are trying to impose their own agendas in the election of a new opposition leader, noting that “this is not what the people want.”
Uzcátegui also expressed her concerns about the voting centers to be used for the primaries, which are family houses or private premises. She questioned what contingency plan the CNP has in case at the last minute the owners of some such premises do not allow the use of their spaces for the election.
In addition to these procedural irregularities, she also spoke about the extremely low participation rate in the internal processes themselves, which is estimated to be less than 10%. She claimed that the number of voters could hardly reach a million even with a good turnout.
“With that figure, we would not even reach the traditional participation in primaries, which is usually 10%,” she commented.
Fraud Alert: Concerns About Voting Centers & Voters’ Data for Opposition Primaries
Uzcátegui further highlighted and spoke on the lack of agreement among the 13 opposition aspirants as to what will happen if any of the three disqualified candidates is elected in the primaries. She emphasized that it is not a whim “but a necessity to have clear guidelines.”
She added that the process as it stands now will not meet the expectations of the opposition supporters, reiterating her complaint that the necessary conditions for the primaries to be held on October 22 do not exist.
In view of this, she urged the organizers of the opposition primaries to request technical assistance from the CNE, given that the Venezuelan national electoral body has the capacity to organize nationwide elections with automated processes of voting and counting.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AU
