Above photo: Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro filing a Supreme Court appeal to protect the results of the presidential elections on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Fernando Vergara/AP.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, has filed an appeal before the electoral chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) for protection of results, in order to resolve the attacks and the attempted coup d’état that took place on Monday.
The head of state submitted a request to the TSJ to summon all candidates this Wednesday, July 31, as well as representatives of all parties “to compare all the evidence and certify the results of July 28 through a technical appraisal,” the president said, “so that the Electoral Chamber of the TSJ can address this attack.”
When the election’s results were announced a few minutes before midnight on Sunday, July 28, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, condemned an attack against the CNE’s technological systems, for which he asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to begin the corresponding investigation.
#ÚltimoMinuto| “me someto a las leyes que el TSJ investigue todo los que tenga que investigar”. pic.twitter.com/DUu3TJvP6C
— Madelein Garcia (@madeleintlSUR) July 31, 2024
When celebrating his victory with the people in the early morning of Monday, President Maduro condemned the fact that the electoral system suffered “an attack, a massive hack. We already know what country it comes from, and I’m not going to say it, but the mark has already been left,” he explained. “A massive attack on the National Electoral Council’s transmission system has taken place, because those devils wanted the counting of votes to be stopped and the official bulletin to be issued today before counting was done.”
The Venezuelan leader added that “the Great Patriotic Pole and the United Socialist Party of Venezuela are willing to detail all the electoral records, and the other candidates should comply to this as well,” he said, noting the importance of transparency in the electoral process of July 28.
He also said that he will submit himself for questioning by the Electoral Chamber of the country’s highest court as one of the several political candidates in Sunday’s presidential elections.
Guarimbas and coup d’état
Answering the questions of international journalists, President Maduro compared the current situation in Venezuela with that experienced in 2017. At that time, the country was set ablaze by Leopoldo López, Julio Borges, and others, and on that occasion, the president had once again appealed to the Venezuelan Constitution as the only tool to resolve sovereign Venezuelan affairs.
“We are facing a criminal attack, not only in its violence, but also in its threats to the lives of Venezuelans, perhaps compared to 2002, the riots of 2014, 2017, [and] 2019 by Capriles, Machado, Guaidó,” the president said. “All this was led by González Urrutia and María Corina Machado. They know they will be defeated, and we the people will triumph with the Constitution.”
Finally, the president asked the Venezuelan people to remain vigilant, as in the coming days they will be able to investigate and uncover what evidence they have in their possession about the violent plot being carried out by sectors of the extreme right.
“The laws and the state must function so that the people can resume all their activities in total peace,” he said, announcing that he would hold a press conference to share more details about the escalating coup that the people of Venezuela defeated once again.