Member of Canadian Parliament requests Emergency Debate on Venezuelan Election Results

Karygiannis

At a press conference this morning Mr. Karygiannis and members of the Canadian Venezuela Diaspora called for the emergency debate to be held.

Karygiannis requests Emergency Debate on Venezuelan Election Results

OTTAWA - The Honourable Jim Karygiannis, Member of Parliament for Scarborough-Agincourt and Liberal Critic for Multiculturalism, has requested the speaker of the House of Commons to grant an Emergency Debate Members of this house can discuss and debate what measures should be taken to help ensure that the democratic rights of the people of Venezuela are protected.

“As an accredited international observer, I witnessed problems at the polls - military presence with guns, some electronic machines not working properly, others witnessed violence and the burning of ballots, individuals with several identity cards, voting early and often.” said Mr. Karygiannis. “I also saw the people of Venezuela streaming to the polls to exercise their democratic right.  They were full of hope believing that this election signaled a new era for Venezuela.”

Nicolás Maduro was declared President-elect with 50.8 percent of the votes cast.  The opposition, led by Henrique Capriles, called for a recount and the President-elect said in his victory speech that he would not object to a recount.  When asked, one of the Election Commission’s members indicated that the Commission would undertake a recount.  By Monday, the day after the election, the President-elect had changed his mind, the Election Commission had declared him to be the winner and his inauguration was on Friday, April 19, 2013.

“With results this close, there should be an automatic recount.  In order to ensure the legitimacy of the vote, the Election Commission should ensure that all the votes cast were properly counted.” Mr. Karygiannis stated.  “In Canada, a judicial recount must occur where the number of votes separating the candidate who received the most votes and any other candidate is less than one one-thousandth (1/1000) of the votes cast.”

There has been retaliation against people who voted for Capriles. There are reports of mass layoffs of civil servants who supported Capriles.  People have been indiscriminately arrested for having supported Capriles. 

The Election Commission has agreed to audit the 46 percent of the ballot boxes that were not subject to the recount on Election Day.  However, the Commission has stated that the results will stand and if someone is not happy with the results, they must take the issue to the Supreme Court of Justice.

The request for the emergency debate will be asked shortly after 3:00 pm please sign the petition as we need as many sigantures as we can get: http://www.karygiannis.net/venezuela