Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) activated 315 fixed points throughout the country distributed in all the states to carry out a period of registration and updating in the Permanent Electoral Registry (REP) as one of the steps prior to the presidential elections scheduled for the next 28th of July. Although in each region there is a particularity, complaints abound, but the most worrying and constant are the installation of machines to favor the PSUV (the government’s party, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela).
By team of correspondents lapatilla.com
In the states of Bolívar, Zulia, Barinas, Táchira and Nueva Esparta, the installation of REP points was reported in the homes of leaders of the Bolívar Chávez Units (UBCh), as well as in strategic sites that benefit the PSUV, which shows a blatant advantage.
In Bolívar, in the south of the country, residents have reported that the only way to find out where the REP machines will be is through WhatsApp groups in their community, created by representatives of the UBCh. These are then installed in the house of one of these “community” leaders and only allow people from that specific sector to participate, all managed under “clandestinity and mystery.”
“Good morning neighbors, you are informed that the CNE machine has just arrived. The event will take place in this block, the house of the head of UBCh,” is part of the message they receive. The machine is allegedly managed by a representative of the CNE, but around him are representatives of the ruling party monitoring the entire process.
In Zulia, three machines were kidnapped in Lagunillas, as reported by the councilman of Primero Justicia, Luis Augusto Martínez, since their whereabouts are unknown. Only one machine is known to be in the rural parish of Campo Lara, a place with little access and meager public transportation.
In Barinas, part of the Venezuelan plain, the registration points are in strategic places for Chavismo such as the “El Negro” Ramón Urquiola Misiones Base, where the INCES of the Santa Rosa Parish, Rojas Municipality, operates. It was also known that information on the operation of this equipment was being disseminated exclusively among Chavistas.
At the Dolores high school in the same Rojas municipality, the registration machine is being operated by the parish head of the UBCh and the director of the educational institution. In the Pedraza municipality, they installed a machine at the Chavista Misiones Rosa Mística Base, in the Sosa Municipality.
Chavista territories
In Nueva Esparta, the main municipalities were ignored, but thanks to pressure from its inhabitants they managed to install the points. The main center was located at the headquarters of the Bolivarian University of Venezuela, while in the Maneiro municipality they opened the point at the Hugo Chávez Mission Base, Los Chacos sector, where access is not easy at all.
While in Táchira, the regional coordinator of the organization #HolaTúInscríbeteRE, Jesús Salcedo, denounced that in the border Municipality of Bolívar, a CNE traveling machine was installed in a Community House, which is directed by members of the PSUV, a situation that was repeated with a follower of Chavismo in the market office in La Ermita sector of San Cristóbal.
In the municipalities of Junín, Capacho Nuevo, Michelena, Seboruco, San Judas Tadeo and García de Hevia, there were also irregularities with the machines that ended up being operated only by followers of Chavismo, who would be registering and making changes of residence clandestinely.
Without itinerant schedules
In most of the states of the country, itinerant days, which are those that move from one place to another daily to favor remote communities, exceed the number of fixed machines, which would be extremely important to inform in advance so that voters can access these points of the REP. However, history repeats itself in all regions: there is no public schedule nor has information been given in this regard.
Also notable is the large influx of voters interested in making changes of residence and registering. According to Vanessa Flores, leader of ‘Encuentro Ciudadano’ in Falcón, there are 3 million Venezuelans who are not registered in the REP, plus those who have recently come of age who must carry out the registration process. “It seems to me that it is a very short period, just a month to accomplish everything.”
The lack of information about the traveling (itinerant) registering points is repeated in Lara, Carabobo, Nueva Esparta, Apure, Guárico, Zulia, Bolívar, Barinas, Mérida, La Guaira, Mérida, Táchira and Falcón. That is, it is an anomaly that spread all over the entire national territory.
The registration days are also affected by constant power outages, which in turn harm connectivity, not only of the machines that depend on a working Internet connection, but also the citizens need to receive the information that is published through social networks and media, which have launched campaigns to keep Venezuelans informed about the registration days, since the information published by the CNE is very scarce and usually omits the information about the traveling registration points, which is a violation of article 33 of the Organic Law of Electoral Processes.
Slowness and incompetence
As happened in the Barinas main CNE office, located on Industrial Avenue, on the first day there were delays due to technical failures, but also due to the lack of knowledge of the operator on duty as stated by an official. This has also been seen in many other points of the Electoral Registry.
While in Táchira they have experienced “operation morrocoy” (operation slowdown), as has been denounced by the citizens themselves, since they have kept the doors of the CNE Regional Office closed for more than six hours, arguing that there is no electricity service.
PSUV applies community control
Another repetitive complaint is the presence of PSUV leaders near or in the election points on registration days, with the purpose of registering who the new voters are in their communities and also to urge them to register with the ruling party.
In Carabobo and Falcón they denounced a parallel registration by the PSUV. Rafael Sirvent, coordinator of the Vente Joven Organization and member of ”Jóvenes con Venezuela in Carabobo State, denounced that near the Carlos Augusto Cubillán School, Rancho Chico sector in Puerto Cabello, they set up a traveling point, but a few meters further on they also installed a point for PSUV affiliation. “People are going to register and immediately, the PSUV approaches them to ask them for the information to also register them in the PSUV. This is very serious,” said Sirvent.
In Apure they denounced that the leaders of the Chavista government use ‘TransApure’s’ Yutong buses to transport residents from distant communities to the closest updating points.
In Mérida there were complaints that new voters do not receive the registration receipt. A similar situation occurs in Guárico, where a social leader, who preferred to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, stated that some young people who went to register for the first time at a traveling point in the La Florida II community, Infante Municipality, did not receive the receipt and they were informed that they would be sent to them by a Chavista spokesperson.
Despite all the irregularities, the country’s political leaders celebrate that there is a large participation of new voters who diligently queue to register for the REP. Although it is a registration period that barely lasts a month, they hope that the greatest number of people can register. They also hope that these sessions will also reach the embassies and consulates so that a large number of Venezuelans outside the country have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote.