Both the opposition and most observers consider that both the CNE and the TSJ serve the government.
Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia said Wednesday that he will not attend a call of Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), which opened a process at the request of President Nicolás Maduro to “certify” his questionable victory in the July 28 elections.
“Citizen Nicolas Maduro Moros, who has filed an alleged appeal with the Electoral Chamber, has said publicly (…) that if I do not appear I will incur legal responsibilities, and that, if I appear and consign copies of the counting records, there will also be serious criminal responsibilities. Is that an impartial and respectful procedure? Am I convicted in advance?” González Urrutia, who denounces fraud, said in a statement.
“If I go to the Electoral Chamber under these conditions I will be in absolute vulnerability due to defenselessness and violation of due process, and I will put at risk not only my freedom but, more importantly, the will of the Venezuelan people expressed on July 28,” stressed the 74-year-old opponent.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) ratified Maduro’s victory on August 2 with 52% of the vote, without making the counting records public, claiming to have been the victim of a computer check.
The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, said Monday that he handed the minutes to the top court.
It is these minutes – with the centre-by-centre count – that demand the opposition and part of the international community. According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained thanks to its observers, González Urrutia won the vote with 67% of the vote.
Both the opposition and most observers consider that both the CNE and the TSJ serve the government.
González Urrutia, who was summoned at 11h00 local on Wednesday (15h00 GMT), said that the TSJ, accused by the opposition of favoring with its decisions the government, “cannot usurp the constitutional functions of the Electoral Power and “certify” results that have not yet been produced.”
This is the second summons of the TSJ to the opponent, who replaced the charismatic leader María Corina Machado, prevented from running in the presidential elections due to an disqualification imposed by the Comptroller’s Office, as an official line.
The unrest that followed Maduro’s victory has left 24 dead since July 28, according to an updated report released Tuesday by human rights organizations, including the division of the Americas of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Maduro, for his part, refers to the protesters as “terrorists” and said that there are more than 2,000 detainees who will be transferred to two maximum security prisons.
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo