And not precisely those witnesses we all know, so diligent and insistent in the house-to-house teaching of the Bible. No. I am referring to the witnesses of the opposition, those who will watch over the votes of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (EGU), and that in reality are not his, but those of Maria Corina Machado (MCM). In view of this reality, who should be the ones to take care of the votes of MCM?
This is where the real dilemma arises. During the primaries, MCM had the people of her party VENTE, which even though it was not officially accredited before the CNE due to all the arbitrariness of the Electoral Power, it also had the militant support of the civil society all over the country. It was not by chance that he triumphed over the MUD-PU parties by more than 93%. He had his witnesses and the support of the majorities.
But already in the official election, the owner of the card, or better said, the usufructuary of the opposition process, and who will collect MCM's votes through an intermediary, is the coalition of the MUD-PU parties. MCM is only the bare owner (see María Corina's bare property in, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/p/maria-corinas-bare-property.html), And it is the MUD-PU that has historically had its own witnesses in all the States, people who know the electoral process well and who have been the ones that traditionally postulate the parties before the CNE to be accredited before the electoral body.
This formal accreditation will occur, according to the electoral schedule published by the CNE, between June 28 and July 27, 2024, the last day before the elections (see in Spanish Accreditation of Witnesses Line 75 - 30 days - Art. 33, Item 13, LOPE, from 06/28/2024 to 07/27/2024, in http://www.cne.gob.ve/web/normativa_electoral/elecciones/2024/eleccion_presidencial/cronograma/CRONOGRAMA_ELECCION_PRESIDENCIAL_2024.pdf).
But this accreditation not only implies the representation of the parties in the polling centers, but it also implies resources, presence and decision-making power in the centers and something that is key in this process. It is the first hand information that is emerging in the course of the election for decision making, so this issue is not trivial. It is worth noting that many, if not most, of the witnesses supporting MCM across the country are doing so on their own.
Clearly, there has been an in-fighting going on here that very few people have noticed, between those who successfully guarded the MCM votes in the primaries and those who have always performed this task in the MUD-PU in elections, clearly not so successfully in the face of the regime, according to the results we have seen in 25 years. Until today, the information this writer was handling was that the MUD-PU would hand over to MCM and its people the control of the witnesses at the polling stations, and consequently their accreditation. However, this has not been what has happened in practice, neither in the field nor in fact.
In a recent interview conducted by journalist César Miguel Rondón, to journalist Celina Carquez, specialized in the electoral source, journalist Carquez said, as Rondón usually says, things like this:
"...Regarding the table witnesses, I have bad news for you. Although there has been a lot of talk about the comanditos and information has circulated that about 50,000 comanditos are registered, the reality is that 55 days before July 28, the numbers for the defense of the vote of the Electoral Witnesses that will be in the voting centers is quite low and in some states the numbers are alarming. I can tell you, for example, that the total number of tables with one witness is only 67%, the tables with two witnesses are 35%. And there is a figure of 9,913 tables with no witnesses. These 9,913 tables are about 35% of the voting centers. Remember that the whole configuration of the voting centers was changed and 58.48 of the voting centers are going to be single table in states like Zulia, 52% of the voting centers have no witness. In Miranda, 42% of the voting centers have no witness. In Distrito Capital it should be covered, but 5% is still missing. In Amazonas 33% do not have witnesses and in Aragua also close to 33% do not have witnesses” (see in Spanish interview by César Miguel Rondón to journalist Celina Carquez. The worrisome situation regarding electoral observation and table witnesses in Venezuela, in https://youtu.be/HyOjr2QmQO0?t=118).
Further on, the journalist blames this lamentable state in the percentages of witness assignment 55 days before the election, and prior to their accreditation, to parties that “ARE NOT WORKING” AND “OTHER PARTIES THAT MAY HAVE A LOT OF SOBERBIA AND BELIEVE THEY DON'T NEED HELP”, with people who are not properly trained:
"This means that there is a lack of people and they are not even trained. I don't know, I think the unitary platform should come clean. There are parties that are not working, that are not doing absolutely nothing and there are other parties that perhaps have a lot of arrogance and believe that they do not need help. But we have to tell the people the truth and elections are not won with rallies, with marches, with a majority, even if you have a majority in the streets, elections are won in the voting centers. In a surprise visit made by Maduro together with the President of the National Assembly, they said it clearly. In the voting centers, they are not going to leave until they win the victory. We are talking about a government that has a super oiled electoral machinery, with an electoral intelligence, with an almost infallible system, and 55 days from now you do not have the witnesses, they are not trained” (emphasis added).
But as in the local poem La Negra del Maraquero, in the end the truth is revealed. Clearly referring to the MCM party, Celina Carquez indicates:
"So they think they don't need help. That the other parties only have to register the comanditos. And well, they have some electoral experts and some engineers that in reality are very qualified people, but you are leaving aside people that have 25 years working in the electoral tables and VENTE never tested its machinery and this is an election that is going to mark the next two decades. I believe that this is not the moment to test VENTE's machinery, but rather for all the parties, especially those with experience in elections, to reach a consensus and dedicate themselves to recruit and train the witnesses who are going to be there, and also to be aware that this is going to be a very tiring process. There may be places where they will not be able to get food or water".
It will be those witnesses who will finally put their signatures to accept the results of each table. The MUD-PU parties may have those years of “experience” but very little success in getting out of the regime. And the obvious result is being suffered today by all Venezuelans. Personally, I prefer an “inexperienced witness” who has never been there, but is determined to defend the will of the majority, who DOES WIN ELECTIONS WITH STREETS, RALLIES AND MARCHES, than a passive witness “with experience” who “bends not to break” before the pretensions of a regime that does not have them.
But the issue will not only be there, will those parties of the MUD-PU have at this moment enough “experience” to face what journalist Sebastiana Barraez denounces in Apure? In the Apure centers witnesses will have to be armed to the teeth, but with a lot of courage, to present their credentials at the centers of a table (see in Spanish Sebastiana Barraez, In Apure there are voting centers in the houses of chavistas, military garrisons and guerrilla houses, in https://www.costadelsolfm.org/2024/06/07/en-apure-hay-centros-de-votaciones-en-las-casas-de-los-chavistas-las-guarniciones-militares-y-en-las-casas-de-la-guerrilla/). There, it will definitely not take more or less “experience” but a lot of courage to get in there with those people, not to say the correct expression. That can only be done by the true representatives of those votes.
Some will say that I am being mean to the witnesses of the official opposition who have traditionally taken care of the votes of the opposition parties, but the time has come to understand the change that is taking place, starting by recognizing the common guilt of having supported them for 25 years. Enough is enough! All the traditional witnesses of the MUD-PU parties must concede that the MCM phenomenon did not happen by spontaneous generation. It happened because those parties, for those same 25 years, got into bed with the regime in order to survive, leaving aside the suffering of the people and Venezuelans paid for it in the primaries. It is time for a change! The only possible consensus to solve the problem of the witnesses is to begin by recognizing that THE VOTES ARE OF MCM in the first place, not of the parties nor of the EGU and their care belongs to their owners. And if we start from that elementary and obvious premise, we will all go in one direction, without the need to see ourselves different among witnesses, when we all want the same...
Caracas, June 10, 2024
Blog:
TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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