Venezuela's National Assembly and National Electoral Council meet to review the proposed 2025 electoral schedule. teleSUR
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00:00Good afternoon to our kind people of Venezuela, a happy meal for you all.
00:09As you all know, this week the Dialogue Commission, the Commission of Dialogue and Encounter with
00:19all social, cultural, economic factors, the National Assembly has been holding a series
00:28of encounters with all political factors, factions, I refer to all political groups
00:36that participate in the political life of our homeland, to talk about chronological
00:45elements, temporary constitutional elements regarding the year 2025, which is a year,
00:55which is an electoral year, and we summoned the 38 political parties who have participated
01:06in the presidential elections on July 28, 2024, and I have to say that they all participate,
01:17the all political parties participated in the meeting, and so we have the, we had the
01:25intention to summon the four governors of the state Zulia, Marinas, and Nueva Esparta that were
01:35elected by the opposition in 2021. Unfortunately, all the four, all governors participated, or even,
01:47or if they, if one of them couldn't make it, then sent in a special envoy, and so last November
01:56was held an election to elect governors of the 23 states of the country, and municipal
02:08councils of the municipalities, and legislators of the legislative
02:16commissions in that time of the 23 states of the country. On December 6, 2020,
02:24a year earlier, elections were held to elect the National Assembly, the legislators of the
02:32National Assembly of Venezuela, because posts in Venezuela have to be elected by the popular,
02:44by the people, and in the case of legislators, men and women are five years, in case of mayors
02:51and governors are just four years in office. The other thing that it's been talked about,
02:58just fantasies, that the everlasting in the latest letter, or that doesn't exist, what is
03:06really, what really exists are institutions and the public powers established in this
03:12constitution. That is, that is, that the mayors, mayors and, well, that these posts only last
03:23four and fifth term, and so that's why they, that's why in the year 2025,
03:31there, we will be holding at least nine elections, and it is likely that we hold
03:40ten elections, the six consultations that, through the proposal of President Nicolás Maduro, allows
03:49that the people of community, of the neighborhoods, of the houses, of the people, can
03:57elect the most corresponding, the most
04:03transcendent, unprecedented project for them to perform, and so we will hold four
04:13consultations for those projects, and two consultations for, for all their crucial stuff,
04:21and so peaceful consultations, but besides, we have to elect the parliament too, because
04:34on November 5th, 1996, it is installed a new legislature, the new parliament, and we have to
04:43elect governors of the 24 states of the country, because in this election, by law,
04:50as we abide by law, we must elect the governor of the state of Diana Zequiba.
04:59We must elect the regional governors of the 24 states, and the over hundreds of
05:08mayors, municipality mayors, and so consequently, this dialogue commission board is here,
05:18the legislator Nicolás Guerra, who is the first vice president of that commission,
05:25and the second vice president of that commission too, and the board of directives of the national
05:32assembly, Pedro Infante, America Perez, legislators, and so we have the task to listen to political
05:41factors, to all, all sectors of society, who, and we, we listen to, to their opinions of
05:53who, when do they want to, to hold the elections, because an election is not a date,
06:01a deadline only, it's not a date. Maybe some people think that it is just to go to the polls,
06:09but the national electoral council, as the president and the authorities know,
06:16that each election is, requires a timetable, and that the electoral event is launched
06:26even before being summoned. The parliamentary election will be that date, that's why
06:36after, there is an array of coordinations of logistical meetings, events, it is a whole process,
06:49so we are in a very interesting situation, in which we have to deal with how to place
06:58these 10 electoral events in the month from as of January till December this year. It is not an
07:07easy task, that's why we, we went through consulting the whole process, and so we,
07:19we have, we have written all in this proposal, which has two parts, the first one is regarding
07:27the general elements of the elections, how it's gonna be held, the summon of the political parties,
07:40of the voters, of those eligible for being nominated by the constitution and the laws,
07:53or for example, as the organic log of electoral processes, we have to learn how to take care of
08:02the electoral events, we have to learn from the previous experience, how the electoral process
08:10was attacked by external factors, by media outlets, and social media, and artificial
08:18intelligence, so those are elements to be discussed, to be, to be, to be, to take care of the
08:28electoral power, and the people, the Venezuelan people, that the Venezuelan voters have the right
08:36to vote for they want, and not for a Musk, or Ivan Duque, or any other, and the event of the
08:45financing electoral campaigns, and the catastrophic situation that we have noticed in some human
08:52beings, that don't deserve to be called Venezuelans, because they are calling for
08:57military actions against Venezuela, for external inventions against Venezuela, all those are
09:04elements impacting this call of peace that the national electoral council must do, and the second
09:13part is that to propose proposals, I insist, according to this constitution, the only authority
09:25in condition to organize, summon, develop, counting up ballots, proclaim elected nominees,
09:38and deliver the credentials to direct officials, is the national electoral council,
09:47its 10 principal rectors, and well, and other subordinates entities, and there is no other
09:56entity that has the condition to make decisions in electoral terms, so that's why we have come
10:06with proposals from the political parties, how is going to be the elections
10:14together, divided, and so, some point out that we have to hold elections very soon, maybe,
10:24in fact, on February, on January 26th, we are going to hold the first one, that's the reason,
10:36so we have to set the timetable, and that's why we are here, we have been very welcomed by the
10:43electoral power, and by the all authorities here, and I have been informed,
10:51the president, Elvis Amoroso, informed me that they have decided to call for a permanent session
11:00of the national electoral council, to not only analyze the documents, but also, all over the
11:06whole year, and try to make the first approach to the electoral programs, to the electoral
11:15timetables of these electoral events, of these nine or ten electoral events, so I am open to
11:23questions, greetings, good afternoon, first I want to ask, how can you guarantee a clear and
11:32transparent elections, taking into account that there are some sectors who have requested
11:39the renewal of change of the national electoral council, meanwhile, if the commission is going
11:47to present some proposals to avoid attacks on the national electoral council's website,
11:55considering the previous attacks on the presidential elections, and after
12:02being enacted the law of Simon Bolivar, how are going to be,
12:11how are going to be the ones who have been attacking the authorities, well,
12:19the, we have proposed almost the whole year, there are a lot of dates, but an election is
12:31not only a date, it is a whole timetable, and the timetable has some lapses, some gaps
12:39established in the law, that which cannot be shortened or longer, and so there is a certain
12:47kind of narrowed in the electoral events, so regarding clear and transparent elections,
12:57all political parties participating in these meetings have pointed out that the fundamental
13:04principles were the respect of constitution, of electoral laws, of the independence of the
13:11nation, sovereignty, preserving peace, no one changed, no one talked about changing the
13:20national electoral council, no one said it, they referred about what I am talking about,
13:30so after the, you are all right, the national electoral council and the state
13:38must establish mechanisms to safeguard the expression through the votes of the Venezuelans,
13:48from the brutal attacks received by the national electoral council on July 28th election,
13:56fortunately sought out by the electoral power, and besides the direct attacks of the electoral system,
14:08of its transmission system, also the attacks on the right that we have to be
14:21posted with veracity, with the freedom of expression, and a few owners of the great
14:31companies of social media, they just meddle in the internal lives of people, and they try to
14:39change reality and replace it with based on their own interests, and that is something that we have
14:47to debate on, and we have to take care of the people's rights for them to vote for the one they
14:56are willing to rule, because those that they do, all the fascist people, all these fascist bugs,
15:05are just supposed to meddle in, to get into the people's minds, and to influence the human minds,
15:15and so those are paramount elements to discuss, and we have been talking about this lately,
15:24and about the law of SimĂłn BolĂvar against the blockade and the protection of Venezuela, it is
15:32enforced, it is approved by the national assembly, and it has been enacted by the
15:39constitutional president, and so that law goes directly to the protectionist elements for
15:49never again happened that a candidate said that after losing a campaign,
15:57that to invade Venezuela. Elections are the right for people to choose to elect their
16:07representatives, it is the people's rights, and in second place, it is the freedom to elect,
16:17and so that the law of SimĂłn BolĂvar is going to protect those situations in any place in the world,
16:28to do a parliamentary, well, we have reviewed, and there is no single country that
16:40accepts in its rules, in its regulations, that an elected
16:49person or a candidate being an agent of an external power,
16:59for example, if a US senator receives a payment of an external power, well, that is unacceptable,
17:12equally happens in Europe, and they have harsher regulations, and we count on the
17:21law of SimĂłn BolĂvar, which is fully enforced in Lisandro Rojas, for media outlet, and
17:32later, during this dialogue table of the national commission with all political parties, we have
17:42been able to know that within the opposition, they have the proposal not to allow in elections
17:54those who disregarded the national electoral council and the governmental authorities,
18:06and for example, I asked you if you could
18:18prevent from participating those who have violated these entities, and so
18:30how can you see the electoral laws, are you confident that these electoral laws be renewed
18:52for these new parliamentary elections? Well, the organic law of electoral processes
18:59points out the requirements for being nominated, and it expresses said that
19:12the requirements for being a candidate, it is those established by constitution, so
19:19being, not being a minor, and all that, but the electoral processes says in the constitution,
19:31and the laws, the political party laws, and the organic code for the penal code, and also
19:43the organic law of SimĂłn BolĂvar, to protect Venezuela against the blockade,
19:51and the new law that we have passed at the national assembly, to be able to legislate and
19:59rule the functioning of the NGOs in Venezuela, all those laws related to
20:09participate, to regulate the functioning of the state, and in this case, the functioning
20:16of the electoral role of the electoral system. So, on the other side, there is a hardship,
20:28a hindrance for preventing the organic law of the electoral processes. This law cannot be modified
20:41before,
20:45cannot be modified earlier,
20:54earlier than six months from the elections. Just the organic law of the electoral processes,
21:03all the rest of the laws can be revised, and we are still working in those dialogue commissions,
21:14and so it is likely that there will be an array of regulations for running elections in 2025,
21:25and it is likely that we make some proposals for the electoral power, and then the electoral
21:33power will work alongside with us in these proposals. To finish, Mariana Mato for VTV.
21:46Three questions. First, it has to do with the participation of this summon of dialogue for
21:53the opposition governors, including Manuel Rosales. I would like to know that if he is
22:00going to participate in these elections, taking into account that he disregarded the elections
22:07on July, and also, there have been threats about the spelling of this political...
22:20Well, I would like to know how are you preparing for the elections on Guyana and on the opposition,
22:30and I would like to know also that if you consider to meet with other entities of the states
22:40to guarantee the development of the elections for this year 2025. Well, thank you. I will begin by
22:49the end. Well, the ball is already here. The National Electoral Council is the only authority
23:02for the constitution to arrange, develop, and call other public entities to collaborate
23:14in the electoral event. That is what we are doing. That is what the National Electoral
23:25Council is doing by declaring in permanent sessions. They will be working on that process,
23:34and so they will be counting up numbers, papers, documents, and timetables.
23:41And they will be designing timetables models, including the other legislative powers like
23:50the judicial power, and so they need to consult the Ombudsman Office, and
23:59if there is any person that wants to be a candidate, but they have to be legible, and so
24:07on. So, it is an array of events from the first moment, from the moment that the National
24:14Electoral Council declares to be in permanent session. We have to say that at those meetings,
24:2337 out of 38 political factors have attended, including the credentials of Governor of Zulia,
24:32Conjedes, and the State of Sparta. And, of course, all parties involved in representing
24:46the great patriotic Poland, all parties of the democratic opposition who have been favored
24:54in by votes, and who won by votes, and have mayors, men and women, and they have a lot of
25:07interest. And we have to say that these factors of democratic opposition, they have never
25:14stopped participating in the electoral events. On the contrary, they have always boosted
25:20the institutionality of the vote as an element to rule, to address the social and political
25:29issues of Venezuela. So, we have to ask them which are their intentions, but we have new laws,
25:37and we have laws that must be respected. Here, there is an element because it is how
25:45constitutions work, how legislations work. Let me give you an example. The so-called attack of the
25:54Twin Towers, this generated some loss at the United States. The
26:04direct responses to that event occurred in December 2001. And so,
26:20the law of entrepreneurs that we have approved last year, and so the barbaric, absurd
26:31situation that someone who has been born in this territory that is requesting invasion,
26:40and the response was the law of Simon Bolivar, which must be respected. And the National
26:46Electoral Council, of course, will take into account all laws regarding being elected.
26:56With respect to Diana Sequiba, the National Electoral Council is in charge of arranging
27:05all the electoral process there. And so, the Venezuelan people ordered us in the consultative
27:14referendum organized by the National Electoral Council, which by absolute majority, they responded
27:24yes to the five questions that arose. And so, in that sense, we have to
27:34contact with the election.