UNITED NATIONS, Aug 14: Venezuela's election council failed to demonstrate "basic transparency and integrity" in how it processed the results of the country's contested presidential election, a UN panel concluded in a report published Tuesday.
"The results management process of the CNE (the national electoral council) fell short of the basic transparency and integrity measures that are essential to holding credible elections," the UN report said, adding that the CNE had failed to follow "national legal and regulatory provisions."
Following the July 28 poll, the CNE had declared Maduro the president-elect for a third, six-year term, giving him 52 percent of ballots cast. It has yet to provide a detailed breakdown despite mounting international pressure to do so.
The opposition says its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old retired diplomat, won the election by a wide margin, according to its own tally of polling-station-level results.
On Tuesday, Venezuela's foreign ministry said it "categorically rejects" the UN report.
"It represents an absolute reckless act that undermines confidence in the mechanisms designed for cooperation and technical assistance," the ministry added in a statement.
The South American country's CNE invited the group of four UN elections experts to monitor the vote and report their findings to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Their report singles out the CNE's failure to release polling center results as a decision which "has no precedent in contemporary democratic elections" that has caused "a negative impact on confidence in the outcome."
The experts also note that the CNE had initially cooperated with them for much of the elections process, but after voting closed on July 28 they said they were unable to meet with elections officials.
The report said the panel, which was not meant to be an election observation mission, intends to continue monitoring the election process remotely, particularly any appeals filed. —AFP
