CARACAS, June 16, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - A majority of the electoral council
stepped down in Venezuela on Thursday, giving the disputed Parliament a free
hand to install new members and mold the council further before presidential
elections next year.

National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said lawmakers under him would
install a new leadership of the National Electoral Council (CNE) "as a matter
of urgency."

The outgoing CNE board was named in 2021 after a political negotiation that
was welcomed by the international community.

Its members were tapped following claims of irregularities in the 2018 re-
election of socialist President Nicolas Maduro and the triumph of his
supporters in legislative elections in 2020. Both votes were boycotted by the
largest opposition parties.

CNE President Pedro Calzadilla and rector Alexis Corredor, along with six
other members allied with the government, said Thursday they would let the
National Assembly pick their replacements.

Another pro-government member, Tania D'Amelio, had already resigned in April
to take a seat on the Supreme Court.

Only two CNE members, Roberto Picon and Enrique Marquez, are aligned with the
opposition, and they did not tender resignations.

The outgoing CNE organized November 2021 regional elections, which European
Union observers -- monitoring polls there for the first time in 15 years --
reported had irregularities despite finding "better conditions."

After years of complaints against the CNE for favoring the government, the
opposition requested technical assistance from the council to organize
primary elections on October 22 to settle on a rival to Maduro for 2024.

Political scientist Ana Milagros Parra said the decision to change the
electoral authorities seeks to "delay the process of the primaries and
further divide public opinion."

"It is part of the idea of demoralizing the people, promoting a scenario of
abstention, of disillusionment with the idea of voting, a little to work on
the perception that it is not worth voting because the government practically
does whatever it wants," Pablo Andres Quintero, a political analyst, told
AFP.