Jun 12, 2020 (La IguanaTV)
The Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), in a joint presentation by its magistrates, appointed the principal and alternate chairs of the National Electoral Council (CNE), after declaring the omission of the National Assembly to perform this duty unconstitutional. The ruling indicates that the Constitutional Chamber, given the relevance of the act, delegated the swearing in to the president of the country’s High Court, magistrate Maikel Moreno.
Below is the profile of each one of the new CNE authorities:
- Indira Alfonso: Lawyer and Master in Security and National Defense, Alfonso is a jovial woman but with a strong character. Until her appointment, she was the first vice president of the TSJ and president of the Electoral Chamber. CNE issues are not alien to her, since she worked there for two years (2005-2006). She has considerable experience in public administration, where she held several management positions, including that of director general of the office in the second term of María Cristina Iglesias, of whom she was a co-worker in the early 2000s, in the Commission of Defense of the National Assembly. In the Legislative Branch, she held the position of general director of the office of the presidency, during the term of PSUV’s Francisco Ameliach (2003-2005).
- Tania D’Amelio: Lawyer. She has been the rector since 2009 and in 2016 she was ratified by the TSJ. She was a member of the National Electoral Board for four years. Between 2000 and until 2009 she was a deputy of the National Assembly for the Vargas state, today La Guaira, representing the MVR, then PSUV. D’Amelio is a well-known Christian activist.
- José Luis Gutiérrez: Lawyer. According to his Twitter account, he is an official of the National Office for Political Participation, which was in the charge of the now former rector Luis Emilio Rondón until 2016. He is the least known of the rectors and rectors appointed by the TSJ. His name has resonated since last week, as the candidate for Accion Democratica (AD) given his family connection with the organization’s secretary of that party, Bernabé Gutiérrez.
- Rafael Simón Jiménez:Lawyer but mainly a politician. He was deputy between 2000 and 2005, for MAS when this party supported Commander Chávez. Then, he joined Ismael García to found Podemos. In 2002, being the first vice president of the National Assembly, he had an unclear part during the coup d’état against Commander Chávez, because although he spoke out against the coup, he tried to convince Chavista deputies to install the legislative session through the self-swearing-in of Carmona Estanga. Jiménez was very close to Luis Miquilena (founder of Accion Democratica), with whom he served as vice minister of the interior in 1999. After breaking with Chavismo, he founded a short lived party, after which he joined another short-term organization, the Polo Democrático, one whose leader was the opposition leader Timoteo Zambrano. He was a candidate for governor in Barinas state,
- Gladys Gutiérrez: Justice of the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ until today. She was president of the highest court and president of the Constitutional Chamber between 2013 and 2017. In this period, the highest court played a major role in acting against opposition mayors who contributed to the 2014 and 2017 guarimbas and who disregarded the court orders for the restoration of public order. Before that, Gutiérrez was Attorney General of the Republic, a position she held from 2006 for five years. She was also ambassador to Spain and secretary to the council of ministers, both positions held during the government of Commander Chávez.
Built-in alternate rectors
- Carlos Quintero: Systems Engineer. He is substitute rector serving since 2014 and since then he has been part of the National Electoral Board. He was IT Director until his appointment as Alternate Rector. He previously held the position of director of the Electoral Registry. Quintero is one of the architects of the automated and highly sophisticated voting system, which is why he has been heavily criticized by extremist sectors of the opposition.
- Juan Carlos Delpino: Until today he held the position of director of the CNE’s National Office for Political Participation, which he promoted to replace Luis Emilio Rondón. Delpino is the son of the late AD union leader, Juan José Delpino.
- Abdón Hernández: He was already a substitute rector, serving since 2014. Hernández was Director of Administration and Finance of the CNE at the beginning of the last decade. He held a similar position in the Supreme Court of Justice.
Translated by JRE/EF
