Venezuela's Election Dispute: Unmasking Truth Through Tally Sheets

An independent election panel, including the Carter Center, validated Venezuela's opposition tally sheets, challenging President Maduro's claimed victory. The electronic voting system had a paper trail, but results were not transparent. International entities called for electoral data transparency amid controversies alleging opposition data falsification.

An independent group of election experts has lent credibility to Venezuela's opposition claims about the July presidential election results. They informed the Organization of American States that the tally sheets offered by the opposition reflect the true outcome of the vote, contesting President Nicolas Maduro's victory.

Difficulties arose when Venezuelan electoral authorities declared a win for Maduro without offering detailed voting results, citing a website hack. However, the opposition secured and released data from over 80 percent of voting machines. Now under scrutiny, the government accused the opposition of falsifying this data, leading to an investigation.

The Carter Center, an observer mission invited by the Venezuelan government, supported the validity of the paper trail from the electronic voting machines. Despite showing tally sheets to diplomats, they stopped short of declaring an election winner, emphasizing that the official announcement lies with Venezuelan electoral authorities.

(With inputs from agencies.)