Venezuela: Electoral Authorities Reject UN Experts Report for ‘Political Agenda’

Caracas, August 15, 2024 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has strongly rebuked a report issued by a United Nations (UN) electoral expert team that visited the country for the July 28 vote, calling it “illegal” and “fraudulent.”

“The publication of the so-called ‘report’ was not within its [the UN experts panel] functions and demonstrates a perverse political intention, filled with fallacious and distorted arguments,” stated the CNE authorities in a communique issued Thursday.

The electoral body said the agreement with the UN stated that the four-people panel was not an observation mission and therefore would not issue “any public pronouncement or judgment” on the electoral process. 

The CNE accused the UN delegation of trying to “delegitimize” the election with “poor and easily disprovable arguments.”

It clarified that there were no last-minute changes in assigned polling stations —as claimed by the UN report— and that electoral experts and observers were informed in real-time of the cyberattack that allegedly delayed the voting data transmission and the publishing of detailed results.

“Not only has accurate information on the cyberattack been provided, but also national and international observers have confirmed what happened and the [cyber] terrorists themselves have vindicated their crimes through different social media networks,” read the document.

The CNE stressed that it applied “contingency protocols” to transmit 80 percent of the polling station tallies for its first bulletin, showing an “irreversible result” in favor of President Nicolás Maduro.                        

The Venezuelan electoral officials clarified that neither UN experts nor observers are legally allowed to audit voting records presented by political organizations and do not receive printed copies. The communique emphasized that the voting and tabulation processes is automated to guarantee data integrity, while paper records can be falsified.

In a three-page report published on August 9, the UN experts said that the electronic voting system was well-designed and trusted, with a “robust mechanism” to safeguard the result transmission process which later presented irregularities. 

The report stated that the electronic results transmission “worked well initially but was abruptly stopped in the hours after the closing of polling stations” and that the CNE provided no information to candidates or the UN panel regarding the cyberattack that allegedly affected the tallying process. 

The document went on to claim that the CNE had canceled three post-electoral audits, including one on the communication system which could have “shed light” on the cyberattack against the data transmission.

Additionally, the UN experts criticized that the CNE has not published results broken down by voting centers to support its “oral announcement” that proclaimed Maduro the winner with 96.87 percent of polling stations tallied, according to its second bulletin.

“This had a negative impact on confidence in the outcome announced by the CNE among a large part of the Venezuelan electorate,” read the report. According to Venezuelan law, the CNE has 30 days (until August 28) to publish the detailed results in the National Gazette.

For its part, Venezuela’s Foreign Affairs Ministry alleged the UN report was the result of “hostile instructions” from the US State Department, claiming the UN experts “had frequent direct contacts” with US officials during their stay in Venezuela.

The UN report contrasts with other international delegations’ statements that endorsed the electoral process and its results. More than 900 electoral observers were in the Caribbean country for the election.

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) said its delegation “witnessed no instances of fraud or serious irregularities and found overall voter satisfaction with the electoral process,” while a group of Basque observers denounced an “orchestrated operation to create confusion and destabilize the country.”

For its part, the Carter Center issued a statement on July 30 claiming the elections “did not meet international standards.” Caracas criticized the organization for “blatantly lying” and supporting plans for a coup d’etat.

Venezuela has experienced a tense political fallout following the July 28 presidential elections. The CNE declared President Maduro the winner of the election with 51.95 percent (6.4 million votes) compared to 43.18 percent (5.3 million votes) for US-backed opposition candidate Edmundo González. 

However, the electoral institution has not published the disaggregated results on its website alleging that its operations continue to be affected by a cyberattack that has extended to all state websites. The claim has been disputed by national and international political sectors, calling for more information and transparency.

For its part, Venezuela’s hardline factions, led by far-right María Corina Machado, refused to recognize the official results. Two days after the election, Machado’s team set up a website, purportedly including more than 80 percent of voting tallies from electoral centers, to claim that González had won in a landslide. 

An investigation by Diario Red found widespread irregularities in the initial batch of uploaded records, including signs of forged signatures and falsified hash codes, to cast doubt on the authenticity of the opposition’s records. “We have sufficient evidence to affirm that thousands of these ‘electoral documents’ have been manipulated,” read the publication.

Despite its victory proclamation, the opposition did not submit evidence to the Electoral Branch of the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ) where the official electoral results and the hacking allegations are being investigated following a request by Maduro. 

Last week, the CNE authorities testified and presented evidence to the court, including the physical voting records. Nine presidential candidates and over 30 political organizations that participated in the July vote likewise introduced documentation by their witnesses in polling stations. 

The high court is now undertaking a technical review of the submitted evidence with special appointed experts. It did not set a deadline for a ruling, though TSJ President Caryslia Rodríguez said it will be final and unappealable.