Ap and Europa Press

La Jornada Newspaper
Thursday, October 3, 2024, p. 27

Miami. The Carter Center, which was an international observer of the presidential elections in Venezuela, presented yesterday to the Organization of American States the minutes of the elections in which, according to official results, President Nicolás Maduro won.

Before a session of the OAS Permanent Council convened by almost a dozen countries to address the situation in the South American country, the Carter Center reiterated that the Venezuelan electoral process lacked transparency and asserted that the refusal of the National Electoral Council (CNE) to show The minutes violate international standards.

Two days after the elections, on July 28, the Carter Center issued a report in which it assured that the process was not democratic and could not corroborate or verify the official results due to the refusal of the electoral authorities to publish the information of each minutes as they had done in previous presidential elections.

Jennie Lincoln, an expert at the Carter Center, said the organization only received the minutes through international mail, but did not clarify who sent them or how it obtained them. The Center did not immediately respond to a request from the Ap agency seeking more details.

The opposition has claimed, without evidence, that its candidate, Edmundo González, won the presidency. The candidate went into exile last month in Spain, where he requested diplomatic asylum.

The OAS session was convened at the request of Argentina, Costa Rica, Panama, the United States, Guatemala, Guyana, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador.

In another matter, the authorities gave start to Christmasin compliance with an order from Maduro, who ordered the celebration to be brought forward due to the good economic prospects.