Barinas, located in the Colombian-Venezuelan region of Los Llanos, is a lung of votes for Chavismo and one of its most important strongholds.
There will be a repetition of the regional elections in the state of Barinas, birthplace of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
This was announced this Monday by the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) of Venezuela, which set the January 9, 2022 for the electoral repetition after the elections of last November 21 threw a tight result between Argenis Chavez, brother of the late president and current state governor, and the opponent Freddy Superlano.
This same Monday, the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court had ordered the suspension of “the count, the adjudication and the proclamation of the new governor of Barinas,” a decision that increased uncertainty and complaints on social networks.
The reason for the suspension, according to a statement from the Supreme Court, was a constitutional protection action filed by the politician Adolfo Ramón Superlano [no relacionado con Freddy Superlano], considered a dissident of the opposition, “for the alleged violation of the constitutional rights to participation and suffrage” provided for in the Magna Carta and in view of “the climate of tension between the political militancies.”
The agency also declared that the amparo action includes “the alleged existence of administrative and criminal procedures and inquiries against” Freddy Superlano that are “filed before the competent organs of the State” and they have observed that the candidate “is disqualified from the exercise of any public office ”.
More than a week without results
The first and only official data offered to date for the state of Barinas was provided by the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Pedro Calzadilla, on the same night as the elections, when he indicated that the ruling party Chávez had until then 93,097 votes, while Superlano (from the Mesa de la Unidad Democrática, MUD), had 92,424 votes.
In the absence of 10% of the votes, the narrow margin of 673 votes gave rise to multiple possibilities and, in the following days, Superlano claimed to have data that indicated that the situation had been reversed and it was he who led the count.
Barinas, located in the Colombian-Venezuelan region of Los Llanos, is a lung of votes for Chavismo and one of its most important strongholds.
On Sunday, the vice president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, assured that “Barinas is Chávez” and “a bastion of the revolution.”
Upset of the opposition
Superlano assured for his part that the Supreme Court intends to “annul the capacities of the CNE” and the will of the people.
“In a demonstration of little will to rebuild an electoral route as a way out of the political, social and economic crisis that we are experiencing, through a judgment of the Supreme Court, they now intend to nullify the capacities of the CNE and worse still the will of the people”, wrote on his Twitter account.
The name of Freddy Superlano has not been without controversy.
In 2019, when he was a deputy and chaired the Comptroller Commission of the National Assembly, a cousin of his, Carlos Salinas, died and Superlano denounced that he was poisoned in the Colombian city of Cúcuta, where a concert was held to raise funds for Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government said at the time that the victims were intoxicated by “prostitutes” to strip them of their belongings when they practiced an “orgy” in a motel in that city.
Converted into the great hope for the opposition, the triumph in Barinas could be the only success for the anti-Chavistas after an election in which the ruling party won 19 of 23 governorates, in addition to the Mayor’s Office of Caracas.
Regarding the situation in the coming days, Superlano said that he is in contact with his legal team and stressed that “the most important thing” is to maintain the mobilization.
“Only by mobilizing and defending our rights in a peaceful manner will we be able to overcome this obstacle and advance towards a Barinas for all,” he emphasized.
The MUD is expected to make a statement on Tuesday determining possible mobilizations in the coming days.
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