Whoever Alleges Fraud Has to Prove it: Venezuelan Lawyer Olga Álvarez

Following the presidential elections held in Venezuela on July 28, right-wing political figures and media outlets have created a hysteria alleging that fraud had been committed in the vote count. The hysteria was based on the allegation that the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has refused to disclose detailed election data, namely the paper vote tallies.

The media charade has been based on partial and in some cases unverified information, exit polls conducted by private US-based companies, and declarations from the right-wing opposition which contradict the official information released by the authorized state body, the CNE.

Just past midnight on Monday, July 29, the National Electoral Council (CNE) had presented the first set of data from 80% of the voting machines once there was an irreversible trend in the data, which in this case indicated the victory of President Nicolás Maduro. On Friday, August 2, the National Electoral Council (CNE) updated the information with 96% of votes counted.

According to the updated figures, the turnout was 59.97%, with 12,386,669 voters. As a result, Nicolás Maduro obtained 6,408,844 votes (51.95%); Edmundo González, 5,326,104 (43.18%); Luis Martínez, 152,360 (1.24%); Antonio Ecarri, 116,421 (0.94%); Benjamín Rausseo, 92. 903 (0.75%); José Brito, 84,231 (0.68%); Javier Bertucci, 64,452 (0.52%); Cláudio Fermín, 40,902 (0.33%); Enrique Márquez, 29,611 (0.24%) and Daniel Ceballos, 20,056 (0.16%).

However, somehow the United States, Peru, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Uruguay and Panama had already recognized Edmundo González as president of the country before final results had been released, in a strategy labeled by the Venezuelan government as Guaidó 2.0.

This recognition is based on figures released by the opposition, with no external audit and no guarantee that they are true, according to which Gonzalez would have defeated Maduro by 70% to 30%.

With Venezuela’s legal and electoral system put on trial to the eyes of the world, Peoples Dispatch, along with a group of other independent, people’s media outlets spoke to Venezuelan lawyer Olga Álvarez, an expert in constitutional law and electoral systems with more than 10 years of experience. She spoke about what is behind the media campaign about Venezuela’s elections and about how the process actually works as well as how, when, and what information is shared regarding the results.

The Venezuelan electoral system

“It is important to emphasize that in Venezuela, since 2004, we have automated 100% of the system, everything related to the electoral system, but specifically everything related to voting,” says Olga Álvarez, expert in electoral law and electoral systems, former Alternate Justice of the Supreme Court of Justice and president of FUNDALATIN.

Voting in Venezuela is electronic, which means that the vote that was registered electronically is the vote that is valid within the system, and the voter is given a voucher to verify at the time of the vote, Álvarez says.

“The voucher is deposited in the safe box. We are convinced that an automated system is effective as long as it is verifiable and auditable in all its phases and at all times. Let’s say that the strength of the system has been its auditability and the possibility that it can be verified not only by the political actors who are participating, but also by the citizens.”

Álvarez clarifies that in all the tables the tallies of the vote are issued before the transmission, with the purpose of giving certainty and security to the organization with political purposes and to the participants, that what is transmitted afterwards is going to match with what is in the tallies. Once the first count report is issued and signed by all the table members and witnesses, the in-the-moment audit proceeds, the tables are drawn by lot according to a logic: if there are four tables in a center, half will be audited and if there are five tables, three of the five will be audited, but which tables are audited? It is decided by lottery and it is decided by the presidents of the tables, who draw lots in which of their tables will be audited, but in order to reach 54%.

After this audit, immediately the box is closed again because it is electoral material to be preserved and the results are transmitted, the tally sheet is transmitted, that is the one that is automatically totalized in the National Electoral Board, in the totalization commission, says Álvarez.

What happens once the in-the-moment audit results are transmitted?

Once it is transmitted, the copies can be given to the witnesses, the copy is a carbon copy, it is identical to the original copy, they can check that their copy is identical to the one before the transmission and that their copy after the transmission is identical to the previous one and they also sign it, the witnesses and the members of the table each of the copies that are issued at that moment, that copy is in a security code, a QR code, they must have the signature of the members of the table. The law establishes that the witnesses must sign, but the non-signature of a witness who has been present does not invalidate the tallies, because sometimes the witness “does not want to sign in order not to give legality.” If any witness finds an inconsistency or wants to make an observation, he/she can make it in the tallies of the polling station itself, the original of which is sent to the National Electoral Board, or he/she can attach a sheet where he/she explains exactly what elements of irregularities, vices or inconsistencies he/she found on the day of the election at that polling station.

What happens with the tallies?

“The CNE has no obligation to publish the tally sheets because what it publishes is the count and the totals on its web page, which at this moment, according to announcements made by the President, has suffered cyber attacks, also on the web page, but the issue of publishing on the web page is an addendum because the law establishes that the CNE must publish in the Electoral Gazette, a specialized gazette for all electoral matters, within 30 days. Normally, the CNE also publishes it digitally so that the interested parties have access and can easily download the digital information to make all the comparisons they want to make, etc. At this moment, they have not published it yet, but there is international pressure to such an extent that the United States, which does not make decisions in Venezuela, has said that it is losing patience because they do not publish the tallies,” explains Olga Álvarez.

Álvarez underlined that the CNE is within the legal time to make the corresponding publications, the Venezuelan electoral body has already totaled the sufficient number of tallies to adjudicate and proclaim the winning candidate of the process.

Is it possible that there was fraud? 

“Whoever alleges fraud has to prove it, in the electoral litigation, whoever files the complaint has to prove it or at least present sufficient evidence to declare the admissibility of the appeal and that the Electoral Chamber may in that case continue with the process and request the electoral body to deliver an administrative file in order to be able to carry out the process, Unfortunately, on the part of the sectors of the extreme right that participated here, this has not happened, they did not recognize the electoral body, they did not sign the agreement of recognition of the electoral body at the time it was known that this was not going to happen later,” adds Álvarez.

Is it possible that the opposition has 70% of the tallies, then why Maduro was proclaimed?

“What is in doubt is not that it has 70% if not the legality and that can only be verified in the competent space that at this moment is the Electoral Chamber and there is an appeal that is going on at that moment in the Supreme Court of Justice to define the key element that is the legality of the tallies presented by the opposition and also in the participating parties, already the PSUV said it will present 100% of its tallies, the course continues in the Electoral Chamber,” says Álvarez on the continuation of the process.

“About the awarding and proclamation of the President, with 80% of the tallies with an irreversible trend, with a difference of more than 7%, the victory was awarded to President Nicolás Maduro, it was not awarded in a square, it was not awarded by anyone, it was awarded by the collegiate of the collegiate body of the National Electoral Council, of the Electoral Power of the highest electoral body. The following day the President was formally proclaimed, in the course of the bulletin that is with the 80% of the tallies, which is a sufficient amount compared to other electoral processes in other countries that with less than that they make that decision because suddenly this one the tendency is irreversible at 60%, 70%, 80% or when the difference is minimal, it is expected that 90% will enter to reach the irreversible tendency,” clarifies the lawyer.

“Then, there should not be any doubt regarding the proclamation of the candidate Nicolás Maduro because it is within the procedure established by the Organic Law of Electoral Processes and the regulation that accompanies the Organic Law of Electoral Processes is perfectly constitutional and we are talking about something that also if there is any doubt regarding the moments in which he was proclaimed or not, Well, then, impose it before the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, for that there are institutions to turn to within democracy, not to ignite the streets with paid terrorists and lying to the international and national community, that is not going to escalate, peace will win,” she declared.

Interview conducted by Peoples Dispatch, ComunicaSul – Diálogos do Sul, ARG Medios, Press TV, Kawsachun News, Breakthrough News and Brasil de Fato.