(Caracas) “There is no evidence whatsoever” of hacking of the Venezuelan electoral system during the July 28 presidential election, underlines the observation mission of the Carter Foundation, which “confirms” the opposition figures giving its candidate the victory over the outgoing president Nicolas Maduro.
“Companies are monitoring” and none have reported “denial of service” attacks, which render websites or network resources unavailable by flooding them with malicious traffic, on the evening of the announcement of the results, Jennie Lincoln, the head of the foundation’s mission invited to observe the vote, told AFP.
On election night, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, declared Maduro’s victory without giving details of the polling stations, claiming that the CNE had been the victim of computer hacking.
Opponents and many observers believe that this is a maneuver or “self-sabotage” intended to avoid having to give the real results.
The National Electoral Council ratified Mr Maduro’s victory on Friday with 52% of the vote, still without making public the minutes of the polling stations.
According to the opposition, which published the minutes obtained through its scrutineers – the validity of which is rejected by Mr Maduro – Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the election with 67% of the vote.
Mme Lincoln also recalls that Mr. Amoroso “had declared that he would publish the results on his website and that he would give a CD to the political parties.”
“It’s a promise he never kept,” she notes.
“Pure theater”
“Even though the two sides were not on equal terms, Venezuelans went to vote […] But the great irregularity of the election day was the lack of transparency of the CNE and the flagrant disregard for its own rules of the game,” continues Mr.me Lincoln.
The Foundation “analyzed the figures” of the minutes released by the opposition with other “organizations and universities” and “confirms that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia is the winner with more than 60%” of the votes.
President Maduro and National Assembly Speaker Jorge Rodriguez have claimed that the minutes were false, with Rodriguez even showing documents that he said demonstrated “the falsifications.”
“It’s pure theatre,” says M.me Lincoln.
She also points to Mr Maduro’s promises to present the minutes in his possession if the courts asked him to: “The government had 11, 12 days […] ample time to show the true data from the minutes he received on election night.”
The election has been challenged by the United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries.
Colombia, Brazil and Mexico suggested “impartial verification of the results.”
Mme Lincoln considers possible participation of the Carter Foundation in an international audit “premature.”
“I am perplexed and skeptical about what an international verification team could do that the (opposition) scrutineers, who produced the real minutes of the night, failed to do.”