Elections in Venezuela: how was the role of the international community?
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(CNN) -
The press team of the candidate of the Democratic Unity Table or alliance of opposition parties, Aurora Silva de Superlano, told CNN this Sunday that when they tried to formalize the registration of the candidate for governor of the opposition In the state of Barinas, located in the central zone of Venezuela, in the system of the National Electoral Council (CNE), a message appeared stating that the leader is disqualified from holding public office.
CNN contacted the CNE and the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic, the body responsible for issuing the disqualifications, to obtain their versions without having received a response so far.
Aurora Silva, who according to her press team has not held public office, is the wife of Freddy Superlano, who was the opposition candidate for the governorship of Barinas in the regional and municipal elections of November 21, after which they were announced final results in 22 of 23 states.
The repetition of the elections in Barinas "could undermine" the powers of the electoral body, says the rector of the CNE
In the case of Barinas, progress was being made in the totalization process when two judgments were issued by the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice.
In the first, it was ordered to suspend the totalization, adjudication and proclamation, arguing that there was a supposed disqualification that weighed on Superlano.
In a second sentence they argued that by confirming Superlano's impossibility of holding public office, new elections should be held in that state.
The same sentence refers to the fact that the electoral body's count was headed by the opposition candidate.
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Both the Carter Center and the electoral observation mission of the European Union have highlighted in the recent regional and municipal elections the impact of disqualifications on the exercise of political rights of Venezuelans, both candidates and voters.
In mid-September, the rector of the CNE, Roberto Picón, affirmed in a statement published on his Twitter account that those affected "were surprised by last-minute decisions that were not duly or timely notified."
Opposition candidates disqualified, not only in Barinas
According to the non-governmental organization Acceso a la Justicia, between 2002 and 2015 alone the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic disqualified 1,401 officials and former public officials.
Opposition leaders such as Juan Guaidó, the former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, Leopoldo López and some 28 deputies, including Julio Borges and Freddy Guevara, were disqualified by the Comptroller's Office.
The current Comptroller General of the Republic, Elvis Amoroso, was a deputy for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the National Assembly.
According to the law, the Office of the Comptroller General of the Republic has the power, once the administrative responsibility of an official has been declared, to determine "the suspension of the exercise of the position without pay" and to "impose, taking into account the seriousness of the irregularity committed, his disqualification from the exercise of public functions for up to a maximum of 15 years ”.
The candidate for the PSUV, the ruling party, is former Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza who replaces Argenis Chávez, Hugo Chávez's brother, and outgoing governor of the state, who on December 1 separated from his post and put the candidacy to the order of the game.
The state of Barinas is located in the Venezuelan Llanos and is the birthplace of the considered leader of the so-called Bolivarian revolution, Hugo Chávez.
For more than 20 years that entity has been under the command of the Chávez family and specifically his father and 2 of his brothers.
Jorge Arreaza was married to Rosa Virginia Chávez, the eldest daughter of the former Venezuelan president.
Venezuelan opposition