Front view of the Supreme Court of Justice headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela. File photo.
The Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela conducted the second consecutive day of hearings for the investigation process for the electoral contentions appeal filed by President Nicolás Maduro regarding the July 28 presidential elections.
On Thursday, August 8, representatives of political parties and former presidential candidates who were summoned by the court appeared before the Electoral Chamber. The president of the TSJ, Caryslia Rodríguez, declared the hearing open upon receiving the representative of Voluntad Popular party, José Noriega, and his lawyer, Miguel Figueroa. Voluntad Popular was the first political party to be summoned by the court to appear on Thursday.
The attorney general of Venezuela, Tarek William Saab, was present at the hearing.
Representative of Alianza Política Asamblea, Renovación y Esperanza (AREPA), José Perdomo; Alfonzo Campos, representative of Esperanza para el Cambio; and Christian Chirinos for Soluciones por Venezuela also attended the hearing.
Statements of former candidates
Former presidential candidate Daniel Ceballos of AREPA, the first candidate summoned for Thursday’s hearing, announced upon his arrival at the TSJ premises, “We bring all the information that AREPA Digital, Voluntad Popular and Daniel Ceballos have gathered and will be presented here, before the court, and we are here to cooperate with transparency, so that the country may be reassured about the presidential election and Venezuelans may attend to the problems that we have.”
Another former presidential candidate, Javier Bertucci of Esperanza por el Cambio, declared before entering the court that those who posted the minutes with the results of the presidential election online, bypassing the National Electoral Council (CNE), have committed an electoral crime.
“It cannot be published, a result cannot be announced in a personal capacity, and no party is authorized to do so, only the National Electoral Council,” he said.
Bertucci stressed that the party that nominated him as candidate has submitted the minutes in its possession.
He added that the technicians of his party have compared the minutes in their possession with those published on María Corina Machado’s website and highlighted that “some coincide, others do not.”
“This is an attempt against the peace of the country, publishing information that should not be published on such and such page but that should be submitted to the CNE,” he said, referring to far-right Vente Venezuela leader María Corina Machado publishing some electoral minutes and using that to claim fraud.
Venezuela: Far-Right Opposition Insists on Ignoring Supreme Court
The presidential candidate of the party Soluciones por Venezuela, Claudio Fermín, also attended the hearing, complying with the summons of the highest court of Venezuela.
Fermín commented that he has observed an inconsistency among politicians who claim to have the minutes of the presidential elections but have not submitted them when called upon to do so. He said this in reference to what Manuel Rosales and Simón Calzadilla, representatives of far-right Unitary Platform candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, said on Wednesday. González Urrutia did not submit the voting minutes in his possession to the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ, and on Wednesday, his representatives claimed that the minutes were already published on a website.
“It does not make sense that those who claim to have minutes have not submitted them,” Fermín said. “The only body that can solve this matter is the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, and not social media. There is no virtual court of web pages.”
On Thursday afternoon, Antonio Ecarri attended the TSJ. He filed an appeal before the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court, requesting it to review the actions of the Electoral Chamber.
The representative of the Min Unidad party, Ramón Odreman, appeared on Thursday before the Electoral Chamber to present the voting minutes in the possession of his party and to respond to the questions asked by the judicial body.
Earlier, the representative of Cambiemos party, Timoteo Zambrano, also attended the hearing. Both Cambiemos and Min Unidad supported the candidacy of Antonio Ecarri in the presidential elections.
After the ultra right refused to recognize the results of the July 28 election, President Maduro filed an electoral contentions appeal before the TSJ, requesting the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court to carry out the corresponding investigations and clarify the facts.
As part of the electoral appeal, the TSJ summoned the 10 candidates as well as representatives of the political parties to present all the electoral data and voting minutes in their possession.
The process will continue for 15 days, with provisions for extension, during which the TSJ will receive all the necessary legal resources for proper resolution of the dispute.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
