Elvis Amoroso, very close to the regime and sanctioned by the United States, was appointed president of the National Electoral Council.
The official sanctioned by the United States, Elvis Amoroso, who disabled several opposition leaders, was appointed this Friday president of the electoral authority that will organize the presidential elections of Venezuela in 2024, in which Nicolás Maduro will seek a new re-election.
“I proceed to inform the people of Venezuela: as president of the electoral power, the rector Elvis Amoroso has been appointed,” the 60-year-old official himself announced in a statement to the press.
The members of the National Electoral Council (CNE) were appointed on Thursday by Parliament, with a large Chavista majority, and it was made up of three rectors linked to the ruling party and two related to the opposition.
The designation of the president, vice-president and person in charge of commissions corresponded to the rectors, as established in the Law of Electoral Processes.
Unlike the previous CNE, In the vice presidency there will be a rector also linked to Chavismo, Carlos Quintero.
Amoroso had been holding the position of comptroller general since October 2018, when he was placed in that office by decision of the National Constituent Assembly, a forum made up solely of Chavistas, which exercised incontestable powers for three years despite being accused of fraud and not having with the recognition of the international community.
Sanctions for “censoring the media”
Amoroso, 60, was included in 2017 on a list of those sanctioned by the United States for “undermine electoral processes and censor the media.
The official will also chair the Electoral Board commission, the entity in charge of the technical organization of the elections.
The voter registration commission will also be headed by another of those related to Chavismo, Rosalba Gil, former secretary of Parliament and widow of the leader Darío Vivas.
“We are proud that our beloved Venezuela has the most reliable electoral system in the world, and we are going to demonstrate it in each of the upcoming electoral processes,” Amoroso said.
Aimé Nogal, one of those linked to the opposition, will be in charge of the political participation and financing commission.
The rectors were appointed after the full board of directors resigned last June in a decision that the then president of the entity, Pedro Calzadilla, justified as a measure to seek a CNE that represents “consensus.”
The opposition considered, however, that it was a measure that attempted against the primaries and against the presidential elections scheduled for next year in which Maduro will seek a third term.
The new appointments have been questioned by opposition leaders. María Corina Machado, presidential candidate but disqualified by the electoral authority, said at a press conference that the new CNE is an “instrument of the system, of the regime.”
“Facing the maneuvers or claims of a CNE devoted to the system will be one of the many barriers that we are going to defeat, but now we know very clearly who they are,” added Machado.
Maduro, meanwhile, welcomed the appointment: “It is made up of good, professional, balanced men and women, and it is up to them to organize the electoral processes for the next seven years.”
Source: AFP and EFE
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