Venezuela’s Supreme Court abruptly decided to bar an opposition candidate for governor from office on Monday as votes were still being tallied in the country’s election.
By The Hill – Monique Beals
Nov 30, 2021
The court decided to prohibit Freddy Superlano from holding office, a move that prompted some to say the race was stolen, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The decision was because of pending criminal charges regarding Superlano’s opposition to authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro, the Journal added.
“The regime is exposed for what it is, a vulgar dictatorship that snatches the will of the people who expressed themselves,” opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whom the U.S. has recognized as Venezuela’s legitimate president since 2019, said on Twitter.
El régimen se expone como lo que es, una vulgar dictadura que arrebata la voluntad de la gente que se expresó incluso sin condiciones y de manera muy adversa. Pero hay algo más evidente: no se ponen de acuerdo entre ellos.
– Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) November 29, 2021
A European Union election observation team had also raised concerns about the vote, including the government’s unequal allocation of resources to benefit the Socialist Party as well as the disqualification of opposition candidates, the Journal added.
“They were trying to sully the electoral process,” Maduro said of the observation team in a speech on Sunday, per the Journal. “A delegation of spies — they weren’t observers – they wandered freely around the country, spying on social, economic and political life.”
While the National Electoral Council has not provided election results for Barinas, despite doing so for other states, Maduro had claimed victory in Barinas on election night though the counting was incomplete and less than 700 votes separated him from incumbent candidate Argenis Chávez, Hugo Chávez’s brother.
…
Read More: The Hill – Venezuela Supreme Court bars opposition candidate amid vote count
…