Maduro goes to Supreme Court to validate reelection amid international pressure

The president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduroappears before the Supreme Court on Friday, asking it to validate his disputed re-election, amid growing international pressure to release the minutes of the July 28 vote, which the opposition denounces as fraudulent.

The hearing is in response to a request made last week by Maduro to the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ), accused of serving Chavismo, to “certify” the election through a process that academics and political leaders consider inappropriate.

“We want peace, tranquility, that is why I filed this appeal before the Supreme Court of Justice. There have been two days of hearings, all the candidates and all the parties were summoned. (…) It is my turn,” Maduro told hundreds of supporters at a rally in Caracas on Thursday.

Maduro was proclaimed re-elected president with 52% of the votes compared to 43% for his main rival, Edmundo González Urrutia, but the National Electoral Council (CNE) did not publish the details of the vote count, alleging a hack of the voting system. Twelve days later, it still has not done so.

The opposition has denounced fraud and claimed to have 80% of the records, which prove the victory of González Urrutia, a discreet ambassador who represented the leader María Corina Machado in the vote after her disqualification from holding public office.

Following the results, protests broke out across the country, leaving at least 24 dead, according to human rights organizations, and more than 2,200 arrested, according to Ripe.

Chavismo dismisses the evidence presented by the opposition and calls it false.

Observers such as the Carter Center agree on the projections of opposition victory, while USA -which recognized González Urrutia’s victory-, the European Union -which called for an “independent verification” of the process and does not recognize the official results-, and Latin American countries, including Maduro allies such as Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, demand the publication of the minutes.

Maduro defends his victory and claims to have 100% of the votes.

CNE President Elvis Amoroso appeared before the court on Monday and said he had delivered all the requested material: the minutes of the vote counts from the polling stations, the final tally and a copy of Maduro’s proclamation.

According to the announcement made by the president of the Supreme Court, Caryslia Rodríguez, the material will be reviewed within a period of 15 days, which may be “extendable.”

“Opaque”

With this procedure, Maduro is “implicitly admitting that no one believes in his proclamation, to the point that he is asking for another power to intervene,” said the lawyer for the opposition Machado, Perkins Rocha, in X. “Maduro knows that he can count on a subservient TSJ.”

Gonzalez Urrutia He was summoned on Wednesday, but did not attend the court summons. He claimed “absolute vulnerability due to defenselessness and violation of due process” in a statement.

The director of the political consultancy Logconultancy, Giulio Cellini, told AFP that “Everything indicates that the judicial procedure is a kind of ambush against Edmundo González. We start from the fact that the judiciary is controlled by Maduro, as is the electoral power.”

“So something that should be resolved at the administrative level, that is, at the CNE, is taken to court to try to ratify this victory, but the concern is that this process at the judicial level is opaque.”he added.

Brazil, Colombia and Mexico are making diplomatic efforts to find solutions to the crisis unleashed after the elections and on Thursday they said they had taken note of the process in the TSJ, but insisted on the need for the electoral records to be published.

The United States, which has warned Maduro of more international pressure if Machado and González Urrutia are arrested, is also seeking to give Brazil, Colombia and Mexico space to “work and find a way forward,” the U.S. ambassador to the Organization of American States said Thursday. (OAS), Francisco Mora.

Maduro, meanwhile, continues to denounce an “attack” and coup against him and is targeting social media. The president, who says he has stopped using WhatsApp, ordered the suspension of X for 10 days on Thursday. The social network stopped working after 9:00 p.m. (01:00 GMT on Friday).