2024: Two Electoral Rectors Represented the Opposition in the 2024 Presidential Election

The 1999 Constitution established the Electoral Power as one of the five independent branches of the national government. The National Electoral Council (CNE) sets the rules and runs all national elections in Venezuela. The CNE is governed by a 5-member Board of Rectors which are appointed by the National Assembly.

In August 2023 a new CNE Board was designated by the National Assembly. As Rectors, they had access to all CNE staff, meetings and documents. Two of the new Board members were viewed as aligned with the opposition to the government of President Nicolas Maduro:[1]

·        Juan Delpino -Member of the opposition Democratic Action party

·        Aime Nodal- Member of the opposition Un Nuevo Tiempo party

On March 5, 2024, the CNE announced that the Presidential Election would be held on July 28, 2024. Sixteen public audits of the voting system were conducted. Neither Delpino nor Nodal made public statements about any irregularities during the audits. In an interview six weeks before the election, Delpino said: [2]

·        “I have no doubt that the CNE won’t steal a single citizen vote. It will be a fair process.”

On the day before the Election, Nodal did a TV interview announcing that all 30,026 voting stations were ready.

At midnight on Election Day, the CNE Board announced that Maduro had won the election with 51.2% of the vote while Edmundo Gonzalez received 44.2%. Nodal signed the results certification and attended the press conference where the election results were announced. Since then, she has not made any public statements about the election and has refused all requests for interviews.

Delpino did not go into the room where the votes were being tallied and went home at 11:00PM. Delpino did not sign the election certification and did not attend the press conference. It was reported that the opposition had scheduled Delpino to go to Venevision’s HQ on July 28 and make a statement on TV claiming fraud. [3] Delpino backed out saying he couldn’t say anything because “he wasn’t there.”

Delpino disappeared from the public eye and reappeared a month later in Bogota, Columbia when he granted an exclusive interview with the New York Times. [4] In the interview Delpino said that he “had not received any evidence” that Maduro actually won a majority of the vote.” Delpino cited some “irregularities” that led him to “a loss of confidence in the integrity of the process and in the announced results.” His statement was cited by the Times as: “An electoral council official expressed grave doubts about claims to victory by the authoritarian President, Nicolas Maduro.”

After the election, Gonzalez claimed that he had evidence that the CNE committed massive fraud and that he had actually won the election with 70% of the vote. In October 2024 in Spain, Delpino met privately with Gonzalez who said that Delpino had “detailed his experience of what happened on July 28th inside the electoral body’s facilities.” [5] Delpino did not release a statement in support of Gonzalez’s claim of massive fraud. None of the details of “what happened on July 28th” were released.

   

1.      El Nacional, The Electoral Director who ghosted the opposition, August 4, 2024

2.      Carquez, Celina, Rector Delpino: Amoroso violates the rights of the CNE rectors by making decisions without calling sessions, Efecto Cocuyo, June 11, 2024 

3.      Alba Ciudad, The National Assembly Dismisses Juan Carlos Delpino and Appoints Conrado Perez as the new principal rector of the CNE, October 17, 2024

4.      New York Times, No Evidence that Maduro Won, a Top Venezuelan Election Official Says, August 26, 2024.

5.    CNN Chile, Edmundo Gonzalez met with CNE rector Juan Delpino, October 7, 2024

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