Enrique Marquez, Vice President of the National Electoral Council (CNE), made the right to vote for Venezuelans outside the country subject to a political agreement between Nicolás Maduro’s government and the opposition.

The president of the university pointed out that despite the provisions of Article 64 of the Penal Code constitution, “All Venezuelans who have attained the age of eighteen and who have not been subject to civil embargo or political exclusion are voters.” He emphasized that without a political agreement, the National Electoral Council would not address the issue of foreign voting.

Marquez insisted that “what the National Electoral Council discusses and its operations have a lot to do with the political agreements that the country’s political class builds.” “The National Electoral Council is not devoid of the reality of the country and there are elements of national policy that must be taken into consideration.”

CNE to vote abroad

The president of the university highlighted in an interview with the media one date That this issue has not been officially reported, so it has not reached the CNE Board.

“In order to comply with the law, there is no need for a political agreement,” Marquez said. He emphasized that “the CNE It should take the initiative to correct the elements it has to correct and which have been proven to violate the rights of citizens.”

In the same way, he talked about facilitating the right to vote for citizens, regardless of where they are. To do so, he commented, the strategy might be to open “as many posts as possible, outside of consular posts.”

Marquez said he agreed to “eliminate the requirement of legal residence because the only requirement of a Venezuelan inside the country is his identity card; it must be the same as the one outside.”