Audit of votes in Venezuela begins, but not as Capriles wanted

Today began the installation of the technical committee of the political organizations to start the audit of 46% of the electoral votes, which although the opposition leader Henrique Capriles requested it, shall not be done in the terms he established.

“We cannot perform an audit in the terms requested by the leader of the opposition, it is a challenge attempt that is not for the electoral body to handle,” said last weekend the president of the National Electoral Council, Tibisay Lucena.

Tibisay Lucena

On his behalf, Capriles rejected the CNE’s decision to audit the results of the presidential elections of April 14 outside the terms proposed by his campaign, and said that he will use every domestic courts and take “the case to the world,” besides being convinced that “sooner or later we will have new elections.”

Capriles’ terms not only called for the audit of 46% of votes, they also requested the revision of voter lists, ballot papers and tally sheets.

According to Lucena, the audit will be made taking into account a “random sample of 46% of the tables that were not audited, which will be defined in a working board with technicians from both candidates.”

The audit process will begin on April 29, with a technical table with political organizations, and conclude on June 4. The first audit cycle will be held from May 6 to May 15, the second from May 16 to May 25 and the third from May 26 to June 4.