Caracas Chronicles

• The EU electoral observer mission determined in their preliminary report that the lack of judicial independence and disrespecting the Rule of Law negatively impacted the equality of conditions and the elections’ transparency. The head of the mission, Isabel Santos, said that electoral conditions improved but there are still structural differences like arbitrarily barring candidates from running, using state resources for PSUV’s campaign, unequal access to media outlets and taking over opposition political parties where the National Tribunal of Justice (TSJ) imposed other authorities. 
• Santos said that the National Electoral Council (CNE) installed in May is seen as the most balanced electoral authority the country’s had in the last 20 years. In their report, they said: “The board members who don’t have ties to the government lack executive powers, and they have a role that’s more like an advisor or auditors within CNE.” 
• The mission also documented delays in opening and closing voting stations, coercion on voters, puntos rojos in all states, abusing assisted voting and recommended the CNE broaden its sanctionative capacity to prevent this from happening again. Santos condemned the irregularities and the death of a person in Zulia. The report gathered specific data on abuses of power, loss of institutionality and media censorship and self-censorship and the tremendous distance between the regime’s methods and international standards. 
• Jordi Cañas, head of the European Parliament mission, said that the progress made in this election was based on “insufficient democratic conditions and the deterioration of the Rule of Law, the lack of branch independence and political actors being barred from running for office.” He highlighted two key aspects: the need for an independent Judicial Branch and the advancement of political dialogue. 
• Josep Borrell said that they trust this work can “contribute to finding a solution to the Venezuelan crisis, facilitating credible, inclusive and transparent elections at all levels in the future, including presidential elections.” 

The UN Office for Human Rights expressed its concern for incidents denounced during the elections, like attacks with firearms, restrictions to journalists, and the pressure on public employees to “vote for a determined political party.” They asked for an investigation on these claims. 

• Henrique Capriles said he’s satisfied with the participation on Sunday. He said it isn’t true that abstention won, and added all the victories for every party that isn’t openly part of chavismo to say that having won 117 mayorships is “the best result the opposition has gotten in 17 years.” According to Capriles’s figures, votes for the Gran Polo Patriótico don’t even reach 45.7%, so it isn’t true that the map “has been painted red.” He asked for the creation of a great federal council with every elected official. He said that he doesn’t question José Brito, part of the Alacrán operation, defender of Álex Saab’s image and one of the people responsible for Primero Justicia losing control of their electoral card and symbols. Brito is sanctioned for undermining democracy but Capriles disregarded all of it and said that making him part of his proposed alliance should be reviewed. 
• The CNE said that former chavista minister Eduardo Piñate is winning in Apure. Opposition candidate Luis Lippa said he’ll challenge the electoral results and Piñate’s alleged win.
• MUD candidate for Tovar (Mérida), Sonia Castro, denounced that the CNE didn’t give her vote on the COPEI card, despite having formalized the candidacy substitution within the established period. Without those votes, PSUV would win the mayorship. She showed the evidence, emails and dates when she sent the information to the CNE. 
• The Barinas governorship hasn’t been decided between opposition candidate Freddy Superlano and Argenis Chávez.
• Maduro’s régimen rejected U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement on the electoral process not being free or fair. 
• As if that was part of the process, Omar Prieto conceded to Manuel Rosales in Zulia and didn’t completely rule out the idea of a protector: “We’ve talked to Jorge Rodríguez, Diosdado Cabello, Nicolasito and even president Maduro himself, and for now, it’s too soon to tell if there will be another responsibility assigned.” 
• Nicanor Moscoso, another comrade that’s been living of the Latin American left, especially chavismo, as the CEELA president, expressed his satisfaction for the election and the lack of irregularities and denunciations. 
• -The Venezuelan Central Bank is injecting 70 million dollars into currency exchanges in the country. BCV forces entities in the system to sell their dollars as a priority and sell at the same rate in the intervention, despite the fluctuations of the price in the following days. In November, the BCV injected 175 million dollars in cash, which equals 23.24% of the dollar liquidity. 
• Aldo Contreras, the president of the Táchira Economists Guild, explained that the banking entities authorized to operate with foreign currency are subject to the rate issued by the BCV, an institution that “wants to keep the control,” even in the utility margins of the banking system, but it’s hard to do under hyperinflation. 
• Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal sent a new letter to the Spanish Audiencia Nacional assuring that guarantees for his extradition are insufficient and asked not to be sent to the U.S. The Spanish Prosecutor’s Office rejected a judge’s order to investigate payments made by chavismo to leaders of political party Podemos, and the Supreme Court of Cataluña will study the Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal’s accusation against Jorge Carrera Doménech. Carvajal accuses him of trying to influence the Audiencia Nacional to approve his extradition. 
• The Israeli minister of defense, Beny Gantz, said that “Iran transfers weapons and oil to Venezuela” and that Iran’s Quds Force operates in South America, too.