The president of the TSJ announced the decision of the expert process made at Maduro’s request, following questions raised by the opposition.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela (TSJ) validated on Thursday the results of the presidential elections of July 28 in which President Nicolas Maduro was granted victory, but which are questioned by the opposition.
The Electoral Chamber of the TSJ took up this case after an appeal filed by Maduro and ordered an expert review of the electoral process.
Venezuela entered a post-election crisis after in the early morning of July 29, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, announced results that allegedly corresponded to the scrutiny of 80% of the minutes and that, he said, granted an “irreversible” victory for Maduro.
The opposition, led by María Corina Machado, questioned these results and stated that the data in its possession indicated that the winner of the elections had been the candidate of the opposition Unitarian Platform, Edmundo González Urrutia.
Doubts about the process deepened in the following weeks because the CNE never published the results broken down by tables that would allow the process to be audited.
At the same time, the opposition published a website a website a website saying that there are more than 80% of the minutes that can be consulted by anyone and according to which González Urrutia would have obtained 67% of the vote, while Maduro would have obtained 30%.
The ruling in Venezuela claims that the minutes presented by the opposition are false. The TSJ claimed to have analyzed the minutes submitted by the CNE.
The announcement of Maduro’s triumph by the CNE was followed by a wave of protests in numerous Venezuelan cities that led to a wave of mass arrests.
According to the NGO Foro Penal until 18 August, more than 1,500 people had been arrested, including 129 adolescents and 18 persons with disabilities.
In this regard, Maduro has said that the government was enabling two “maximum security” prisons to house the protesters, whom he described as “terrorists” and “criminals”
This article has been translated after first appearing in La Prensa Grafica