Juan Carlos Delpino, a member of the National Electoral Council in Venezuela, has spoken out against the lack of transparency in the recent presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner despite evidence suggesting he lost to the main opposition candidate. Delpino cited irregularities in the election process, including slow reporting of results from voting machines and the banishment of opposition volunteers from polling centers. He also mentioned a hacking incident that delayed the transmission of results to the CNE headquarters. In protest, he did not attend the vote-counting monitoring session or the press conference where Maduro was declared the winner, expressing regret that the results do not serve the Venezuelan people or promote national unity.
Maduro’s government insists he won re-election by over 1 million votes, while the opposition claims its candidate, Edmundo González, won by a significant margin based on alleged tallies from polling machines. The Venezuelan Supreme Court has certified the results and accused the opposition of forging voting records. González and his supporter, Maria Corina Machado, have gone into hiding as the government arrests thousands of people and suppresses protests against the election results.
Delpino’s letter also highlighted other irregular decisions made by the CNE, such as a lack of pre-election meetings to establish clear rules for campaign workers, international observers, and Venezuelans living abroad. Despite the controversy, Maduro’s government has refused to release voting records to prove the legitimacy of the election results, further deepening the political crisis in Venezuela.
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