VENEZUELA VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION TO YOUR FELLOW! Tania D'Amelio: We can not say there will be elections this year
The National Electoral Council (CNE) will start next March 4 the process of renewal of payrolls of organizations for political purposes, mandated by a ruling of the Constitutional Chamber of the TSJ, October 21, 2016.
Yesibeth Corner / Panorama
The main electoral rector, Tania D 'Amelio, explains that it is a matter of organizing and putting to the right the awnings, because they say they are nationals and do not actually have the votes to self-qualify as such. In addition, the Law on Political Parties, Public Meetings and Manifestations prohibits double membership and "there are persons registered in up to six parties." With this newspaper, he spoke via telephone from his office in Caracas on the details of the process to be submitted to 59 parties, who must register as a member of a number equal to or greater than 0.5% of the Electoral Register in at least 12 states .
-Parties of the MUD and the Patriotic Pole allege that it seeks to end political participation, what has to say?
-It is not the first time a renewal process is done, the last one was done in 2011, the difference was that it was made manual and at the moment it will be automated. Even those conditions are set out in a TSJ ruling, which states that it is biometric, that double membership is verified, that only the national organizations that are going to be renewed, those who did not achieve 1% in - At least 12 states go to the process and those who did not participate in the last process. If they say that democracy is being attempted and I am pointing out the whole normative link, since the Court's ruling, the Political Parties Act of 1965, which underwent a reform in 2010, but what was done was to modify the nomenclature of the Supreme Electoral Council to the National Electoral Council, which also states in article 25 that all national political parties must renew during the year beginning each constitutional period their list of members according to 0.5% of the RE, Contemplates the norm. We are talking about a rule of 1965 that calls all parties that did not meet the 1%.
What we are doing is to make viable the process that is typified in a rule of 1965, in a decision of the TSJ and the Constitutional Chamber.
- And how many 'briefcase' parties are registered in the CNE?
-It would be irresponsible of me to say that there are suitcases parties, what I do believe is important at the moment is that there is a process of organizing the political parties. Recall that these must have their statutes, their regulations, where each specifies its internal structure, if it is a national party must have a national structure; The directive must be even renewed every three or four years, but I can say that there are parties with 10, 11 and 15 years without renewing their internal structures. In the process of renewal of 2011, the following happened: there were parties that did not renew at the national level, but only in five or six states, they remained as regional parties and after the process was completed, they came to the CNE and incorporated a list of militancy, Of names and surnames, in the states where they had not renewed, and the CNE came and automatically endorsed it, because what was done was to cross it with the RE a percentage of those signatures that you brought, it was verified if you were elector and already incorporated That state as if you had completed it.
"They did it with sheets that did not know the signatures they were carrying ..."
- Very responsibly I will say, when this process was done there were people who signed, a single person signed in six or seven organizations for political purposes. The CNE at the moment has in its files people who are in six organizations, I can also say, that perhaps as they bring signatures to the CNE you can be in a party and you have no knowledge of it. That is the difference with the current process. Here you will decide with your signature and footprint on which organization you want to be, but you can not be in six (...). The use of the biometric system is for your willingness to enroll, in addition, the 59 organizations are going to cross and the last will be valid, for example, Pedro Perez was scored in the X match, but the following week was registered in Another, when it registers with the other, that will be the valid one because it is the last manifestation, and the first one will be annulled.
- In this case, will not parties favoring the last payroll will benefit from the process?
"That's another point, the referent of the hierarchy. When you place a position on a card you take as a reference the one who got the most votes in the election, that has the preference, that is, you have a benefit to get more votes. There are some criteria, the first parties did not participate in any of the parliamentary processes, neither 2010 nor 2015. Of the 62 organizations, 59 came to the CNE and said: 'I want to renew', that's why we have 59, because Labor Movement said it was not going to do it, the Socialist Party and Freedom Equal, and Social Progress as well. The criteria are AN 2015 and AN 2010, the other criterion is that if they did not participate in either process or another process is taken as a reference the date of registration of their party.
The Popular Will party was not so called, but Venezuela de Primera, it was a party that was of Robert Smith, they changed the name and they put Popular Will, that is why it was not reflected in the elections of 2010, because it was with another Name, is in that group 2. Why did AD play in group 4, because it is also by voting, AD in 2010 obtained 925,379 votes, La Causa R also appears in group 4 because it drew 103,676 votes for the 2010.
The referent is 2010 and 2015, we use that so that it is not optional for the CNE, we use the criteria of the position on ballot (...). That's why the group 7, 8, 9 and 10 was made by voting, for example, the Young party goes in group 7 that got 5.846 and if you start to see more, down, you get to MAS that is in group 9 , Which got 37,397, that is, those who have the highest voting have the privilege of being in the last groups of renewal (...).
-What will happen to those who do not get the signatures?
-The CNE will proceed to the cancellation of the party, as the rule in article 32 of the Law of Parties states. When they no longer meet the requirements will be canceled.
- Can they become regional parties?
"No, they'll have to register as a regional party. The sentence was very explicit when it states who should go to the process of renewal, it is about nationals. The Court is demanding that they be placed in law. The process is only for those delegitimized, the Psuv not because they got their votes. At the moment there are five national parties in force: Puente, MUD, UPP89, IPP and Psuv.
- With how many parties can a country operate?
"There is no minimal characterization. What I do believe is that at the moment, in that process of giving order to what are the structures of the organizations, that there are no parties that are not national and we say that they are. It's a bit of a paycheck.
- Are they going to regulate which are the 12 states that must collect signatures or the parties choose them?
-That is to dissent from the political party, they want to collect in Amazonas, which are 512 people; They want to pick up at Delta Amacuro, which are 584 people; Or in Zulia, which are at least 12 thousand; That is their criterion.
- How will the parties that lose militants because they decided to register later in another?
-The CNE is going to place a module when the collection process of signatures ends and they will have two days of rectification. The CNE is going to tell the political parties: 'You are missing seven, you are missing 10, you are missing 20'; And they will be able to bring in two days what they lack. We are going to leave the machines for them to go and take their militants.
- When would the electoral timetable of the regional elections be?
-It is important to note at this moment that the CNE is complying with the renewal process. The ruling indicates that those who do not comply with the renewal process will not be able to participate in any electoral process, therefore, we are legitimizing the organizations.
-But there is guarantee that there will be elections in the second half?
"I can not point you to this right now because we are at this stage of the renewal process.
- And then why the CNE promised last year that there would be elections in the first half of 2017 and did not fulfill?
-On October 18, President Tibisay Lucena declared the country the processes of the first and second semester, it happened that on October 21 came a sentence of the TSJ that says that organizations until they are renewed can not participate. The CNE must guarantee the participation of the parties and we are doing so (...).
