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MIAMI — A Venezuelan election official decried a severe “lack of transparency and authenticity” in last month’s presidential election, in which Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner but the opposition and some countries were kept in the dark about the result.
Juan Carlos Delpino, one of the five members of the National Electoral Council (CNE), published a letter on social media on Monday detailing several alleged irregularities before and during the July 28 election. Among them, he mentioned that automatic machines at voting centers were slow to report results, while several opposition volunteers were blocked from entering, in violation of election rules that guarantee the transparent transmission of vote counts to CNE headquarters.
Del Pino said he was told that the hours-long delay was due to an alleged hack of the CNE platform and that only 58% of the results had been collected. He added that in protest he decided not to monitor the vote count at the CNE data center with his colleagues or attend the midnight press conference when the body’s president, Elvis Amoroso, a member of the ruling party loyalist, announced Maduro’s victory.
“I deeply regret that the result and its recognition did not suit all Venezuelans, that it did not resolve our differences, that on the contrary there was an underlying doubt about the result among the majority of Venezuelans and the international community,” Del Pino wrote on his X account, previously tweeted.
Maduro has claimed he won re-election with more than a million votes, and his government has ignored calls from the United States, the European Union and even left-wing allies such as Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to release voting records supporting that claim.
Meanwhile, the opposition published on its website the results of 80% of the voting machines, showing that its candidate, Edmundo González, had won by more than 2 to 1.
Last week, the Supreme Court certified the CNE’s results and said the vote count released by the opposition was wrong. Authorities have summoned Gonzalez to testify in a criminal investigation, accusing him of trying to sow panic in the South American country by casting doubt on the results.
González said Sunday evening he had no intention of complying with the subpoena, claiming his due process rights and Venezuela’s constitution were being trampled upon and that the only authority he was accountable to was the voters. He also repeated his call for Maduro to release voting records from the country’s approximately 30,000 machines so that international experts can independently verify the results.
“Venezuela is experiencing hours of uncertainty and unrest due to your efforts that go against the will for change,” González said, addressing Maduro directly in a video posted on the X website. “These minutes have been peaceful.”
González, a former diplomat, and his main backer, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, remain in hiding after security forces arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down on demonstrations across the country against Maduro’s announcement.
Del Pino said in an interview with The New York Times published on Monday that he, too, has gone into hiding.
In his letter, he also highlighted a series of irregular decisions by the CNE, including the lack of meetings before the vote, which made it difficult to establish clear rules for the participation of election workers, international observers and the millions of Venezuelans living as foreigners.
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