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OAS General Secretariat Rejects Ruling Issued by Venezuela's Supreme Court

The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) strongly rejects the ruling issued by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela, in which it "certifies" the supposedly appraised electoral material and "categorically validates" the results issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), based on which it declared Nicolás Maduro the winner in the presidential election of July 28, 2024.

This General Secretariat reiterates that the CNE proclaimed Maduro in a hurried manner, based on a partial bulletin issued orally, with numbers that showed mathematical impossibilities and without presenting the disaggregated results that, according to the law, must be tabulated table by table. To this day, the CNE still has not published disaggregated results, as the opposition has done based on official tally sheets issued by the voting machines themselves on election day. These records contain all the security measures that accredit them as authentic and have been subject to verification by public opinion and impartial analysis by national and international experts. This openness contrasts with the total opacity of the electoral authority and the TSJ, whose behavior has been characterized by the promotion of conspiracy theories and the issuance of announcements and statements without any documentary support, avoiding, at all times, citizen scrutiny and impartial verification.

According to the report of the Panel of Electoral Experts of the United Nations, “the announcement of the result of an election without the publication of its details or the disclosure of tabulated results to the candidates is unprecedented in contemporary democratic elections” and had “a negative impact on the confidence of the result announced by the CNE.” The panel underlined the absence of adequate procedures to guarantee the integrity and security of electoral materials, evidencing a notable lack of transparency and accessibility in electoral activities, which prevented effective public oversight.

The TSJ now issues a ruling without revealing the arguments of the appealing party, without analyzing the active or passive legitimacy of the appeal presented, without detailing the technical elements that persuaded it about the alleged authenticity of the records that the CNE says it has submitted to its courts and without explaining on what basis or evidence it considers the “massive cyber attack” against the Venezuelan electoral system to be a fact. The identity of the appealed party, the appealed act —except for the proclamation of Nicolás Maduro himself— or the factual and legal grounds that gave rise to the appeal are unknown. It is also paradoxical that the CNE argues that it is unable to publish the results table by table, but at the same time is able to submit them to the TSJ.

This General Secretariat reiterates that there is no procedure in the Venezuelan legal system that allows the electoral authority to “investigate and verify” the results, or to carry out expert appraisals of them. Both the Organic Law on Electoral Processes and the Organic Law on Electoral Power exclusively attribute to the CNE the function of totaling, adjudicating, and proclaiming the results of the presidential election.

The United Nations (UN) Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela indicated that both the TSJ and the CNE lack impartiality and independence and have played a role within the State's repressive machinery. Other international organizations, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and the International Commission of Jurists have warned about the TSJ's lack of independence. For its part, the Final Report of the 2021 European Union Electoral Observation Mission stated that both the CNE and the judiciary are perceived as “politicized and biased,” which has meant a loss of confidence in the contentious electoral process.

It is clearly evident that Nicolás Maduro judicialized the electoral process in order to seek a seal of “legitimacy” from a biased court. An illegitimate President seeks “legitimacy” in the branches of the State that depend on him. Crude.

Recognizing the CNE results as valid based on the TSJ ruling is validating electoral fraud and turning one’s back on the Venezuelan people who, amid a brutal wave of repression, have continued to demand their right to live in freedom.

It was ridiculous to expect the illegitimate Venezuelan Supreme Court to dispense justice in the Venezuelan electoral process and act in accordance with the law, respecting the Democratic Rule of Law, since it has been completely non-existent in the country for many years. To wait under the inaction of complementarity with respect to this judicial system that completely fails to meet its international obligations is to lend oneself once again to the mockery of the Bolivarian regime, whoever wants to do so.

It was also unthinkable to expect the Venezuelan CNE to hold free, fair and transparent elections, or that, even outside of that framework, it would have the minimum decency to award the results with even a minimal sense of justice.

This regime is not willing to hand over power, it is not even willing to share it. For this General Secretariat it has always been like this, and it was demonstrated when we suggested an arrangement of co-participation. The indifference of the regime to that proposal made it clear that the path of dialogue for an electoral transition would be riddled with tricks. And it was.

If it was unthinkable before, today we hope it becomes clear that it is ridiculous to trust that the regime can comply with agreements. Nothing. Only the absolute indecency of giving a result that is not verifiable in any way. With a simple analysis of this context, it was also ridiculous to expect that the Venezuelan regime would make a transition towards democracy and respect for human rights. On the contrary, we should expect more repression and more political persecution.

We salute the Venezuelan people, who even in the worst political, social and economic conditions, suffering the worst humanitarian crisis and the worst migration crisis in hemispheric history, still continue to have democratic reflexes and continue to create democratic alternatives. You, Venezuelans, deserve all our respect.

Unfortunately, for Venezuela and the Venezuelans, we have had to repeat the warnings that we have made so many times during the last ten years. Unfortunately, the regime, which has made a mockery of so many, has once again proven us right, as it has done so many times in the past.

The only way forward for Venezuela is through the international justice of the International Criminal Court. We will continue to insist on this instrument because the victims and families of the victims of extrajudicial executions, the victims of torture, the victims and families of the victims of the disappeared and politically persecuted deserve justice. These victims have suffered ten years of a dictatorial regime that acts under the most absolute national and international impunity. We will continue our actions to end this impunity.

Reference: E-056/24