Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-election was declared without a detailed count of the votes, appears Friday before the Supreme Court, which he himself has seized to validate his victory against an opposition that offers him “guarantees and safe conduct” if he withdraws.
The hearing should not give rise to any major surprises, as most observers agree that both the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ) and the National Electoral Council (CNE) are at the beck and call of those in power.
“Tomorrow (Friday), ‘the fighting cock’ will go to the Supreme Court of Justice,” Maduro said Thursday, referring to himself in the third person using the nickname he gave himself during the election campaign.
“We want peace, tranquility, that’s why I filed this contentious appeal with the TSJ. There were two days of hearings, all the candidates and all the parties were summoned, and it’s my turn,” he told his supporters who came to support him during a demonstration in Caracas.
The CNE ratified Mr. Maduro’s victory on August 2 with 52% of the vote, without making public the exact vote count and the minutes of the polling stations, claiming to have been the victim of computer hacking.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained through its scrutineers – the validity of which is rejected by Mr. Maduro – Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had replaced at short notice the leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado, declared ineligible, won the July 28 election with 67% of the vote.
The opposition and many observers believe that the hacking claimed by the CNE is an invention of the government to avoid publishing electoral documents.
Mme Machado thus called for “a negotiation for the democratic transition”, in voice messages to AFP, evoking “guarantees, safe conducts and incentives” for President Maduro if he leaves power.
“Maduro has completely, absolutely, lost his legitimacy,” she said. “All Venezuelans and the entire world know that Edmundo Gonzalez won hands down and that Maduro intends to impose the greatest fraud in the history of this country. But he will not succeed.”
“Opaque”
On Monday, after receiving the president of the CNE who assured that he had submitted all the minutes to the courts, the president of the TSJ Caryslia Rodriguez indicated that the Court had “15 extendable days” to render its decision.
Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who was summoned on Wednesday, did not go to court, saying that by going, he was risking his “freedom but also, more importantly, the will of the people” expressed in the vote.
“Everything indicates that the judicial process is a kind of ambush against Edmundo Gonzalez. The judiciary is controlled by Maduro, as is the electoral power,” analyzes Giulio Cellini, director of the political consultancy Logconsultancy.
“So something that should be resolved at the administrative level, that is, at the CNE, is brought before the court to try to ratify this victory, but the concern is that this process at the judicial level is opaque,” he adds.
Two new opposition leaders, Williams Davila and Américo De Grazia, have been arrested, Mr De Grazia’s family and the opposition coalition announced on Thursday, the latter denouncing an “escalation of repression”.
At the end of July and the beginning of August, the opposition had already denounced the arrests of two other executives, Freddy Superlano and Roland Carreno.
Mme Machado and Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia have been living in hiding for more than a week, with the former even saying she feared for her life.
“Cyberfascist coup”
Brazil, Colombia and Mexico said they took note of the process initiated with the TSJ but insisted Thursday on the need for Caracas to make public the presidential election minutes, based on the “principle that the CNE is the body legally mandated to transparently disclose the results of the election,” according to a joint statement.
On Thursday evening, President Maduro announced that the X network was being suspended for ten days. A measure that was put into effect around 9:30 p.m. local time (01:30 GMT Saturday).
“No one will silence me, I will face the espionage of the technological empire. Elon Musk […] “violated all the rules of the social network Twitter, which became X, and violated them by inciting hatred and fascism,” said Mr. Maduro, who regularly accuses the American billionaire of plotting against him.
Earlier this week, he had already castigated social networks, accusing them of attempting a “criminal cyberfascist coup d’état”, and also announcing that he was withdrawing from WhatsApp.