Consejo de Expertos Electorales de Latinoamérica

Consejo de Expertos Electorales de LatinoaméricaEstablished| 2004 (21 years ago)

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Types| organization
Aim| election monitoring
Directors| Nicanor Moscoso

The Consejo de Expertos Electorales de Latinoamérica (English: Council of Latin-American Electoral Experts) or CEELA (also Ceela), is an election monitoring group of Latin-American lawyers created in 2004.[1][2] CEELA's president from 2008 to 2024 or later, Nicanor Moscoso, was one its founders.[1][3][4]

## Creation and aims

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CEELA was created based on a meeting in 2004 in Venezuela, as an electoral observation group of Latin-American former judges with electoral experience from countries tending to have left-wing governments. It aims to be a left-wing equivalent of electoral observation organisations supported by the Organization of American States. At its creation, its immediate aim was to provide legitimacy to the 2004 Venezuelan recall referendum.[1]

According to Acceso a la Justicia [es], CEELA was created with Venezuelan government funding.[2]

## Leadership and structure

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President of CEELA, Nicanor Moscoso

Nicanor Moscoso has been president of CEELA from 2008[1] to 2024 or later[4] and was one of its founders.[3]

Guillermo Reyes González, former head of the Colombian National Electoral Council, was a member of CEELA from its creation[3] to 2017 or later.[5] Other founding members of CEELA include Wilfredo Penco, who was a vice-president of the Electoral Court of Uruguay in 2016; Bolivian lawyer Oscar Hassenteufel; Víctor Gastón Soto, a Peruvian lawyer; Salvador Ramos and Ramón Antonio Hernández, Dominican lawyers; and Eugenio Chicas Martínez and Walter René Araujo Morales, Salvadoran lawyers.[3]

As of 2016[update], other members of CEELA included Colombians Alexander Vega, Bernardo Franco Ramírez and Héctor Elí Rojas Jiménez.[3]

## Actions

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In 2010, CEELA and the OAS signed a cooperation agreement in relation to election monitoring, exchange of information and the organisations of conferences and meetings.[6]

CEELA, along with other electoral observers in a "Mission of International Electoral Experts", observed the processes of the 2016 Nicaraguan general election from May to November 2016. The Mission's report listed twelve specific elements of the process that it saw as positive and made five recommendations for improvements.[3]

In 2017, CEELA described the 2017 election for a Venezuelan constituent assembly as having complied with international standard and national legislation.[7] Smartmatic, responsible for the computerized voting system, stated that it continued to consider all the results of Venezuelan elections from 2004 to 2015 to be valid based on the system's safeguards and audits, and that it was certain that the 2017 constituent assembly election results had been manipulated. It estimated "the difference between the actual participation and the one announced by authorities [to be] at least one million votes".[8] Acceso a la Justicia [es] described CEELA's report on the 2017 election as evidence of CEELA bias.[2]

In April 2018, Acceso a la Justicia described CEELA's role in Venezuela as having been weakened by changes in electoral regulations as established by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council (CNE), stating that the task of "observation" was weakened to "accompaniment".[2] Acceso a la Justicia pointed to Article 484, paragraph 1 and Article 485, paragraph 5, of the Basic Law of Electoral Processes (Spanish: Ley Orgánica de Procesos Electorales, LOPE)[9] as preventing international observers from making public statements during the electoral process or publishing their final reports. Accesso a la Justicia also criticised Article 487, which allows the CNE to revoke the credentials of visiting observers without going through any administrative procedures.[2]

Given CEELA's view of the 2017 constituent assembly election and the changes in the rules for election observing bodies, Acceso a la Justicia viewed CEELA's role in the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election of the following month as satisfying neither national nor international roles of independent election monitoring.[2]

CEELA observed the 2024 Russian presidential election. Nicanor Moscoso, head of CEELA, stated that in the election, CEELA was able to "establish all the virtues of the Russian democratic system" (Spanish: establecer todas las virtudes que tiene el sistema democrático ruso).[7] According to the Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina, Moscoso described the elections as "open", with "three voting systems" that were "very effective and secure".[10] Meduza described the election as "the most fraudulent electio[n] in modern Russian history" based on its statistical analysis.[11] Associated Press described the election as having been conducted with electoral irregularities including ballot stuffing and coercion.[12][13]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d "Ceela fue creado por Chávez" [CEELA was created by Chávez]. El Nuevo Diario (in Spanish). 19 June 2008. Wikidata Q129499525. Archived from the original on 21 August 2024.
2. ^ a b c d e f Acompañamiento internacional parcializado busca revestir de legalidad elecciones cuestionadas [Non-neutrality of international visitors tries to give validity to disputed election results] (in Spanish), Acceso a la Justicia, 2 April 2018, Wikidata Q129503470, archived from the original on 20 August 2024
3. ^ a b c d e f Report of International Mission on Nov. 6th Elections, Alliance for Global Justice, 16 November 2016, Wikidata Q129501805, archived from the original on 20 August 2024
4. ^ a b "Expertos electorales de Latinoamérica observarán las presidenciales de Venezuela" [Latin American electoral experts will observe the Venezuelan presidential election]. SWI swissinfo (in Spanish). 11 April 2024. Wikidata Q129495879. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024.
5. ^ "Regionales contarán con acompañamiento de expertos de América Latina, Europa y EEUU" [Regional elections will be accompanied by experts from Latin America, Europe and USA]. Diario Panorama (in Spanish). 12 October 2017. Wikidata Q129493188. Archived from the original on 16 October 2017.
6. ^ OAS and Latin American Council of Electoral Experts Sign Cooperation Framework Agreement, Organization of American States, 14 December 2010, Wikidata Q129498836, archived from the original on 20 August 2024
7. ^ a b Jesús Delgado Valery (18 April 2024). "El sospechoso papel de Maduro en la observación electoral" [Maduro's suspicious role in electoral observation]. El Nacional (in Spanish). Wikidata Q129496369. Archived from the original on 20 August 2024.
8. ^ Smartmatic Statement on the recent Constituent Assembly Election in Venezuela, Smartmatic, 2 August 2017, Wikidata Q129572081, archived from the original on 20 August 2024
9. ^ República Bolivariana de Venezuela Consejo Nacional Electoral Resolución N° 130118-0005 – Caracas, 18 de enero de 2013 – 202° y 153° [Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela National Electoral Council Resolution No. 130118-0005 – Caracas, 18 January 2013 – 202° and 153°] (PDF) (in Spanish), 18 January 2013, Wikidata Q129504811, archived from the original (PDF) on 17 July 2013
10. ^ "International observers confirm transparent Russian elections". Prensa Latina. 17 March 2024. Wikidata Q129578636. Archived from the original on 22 August 2024.
11. ^ "Putin 2024 - Meduza breaks down the evidence pointing to the most fraudulent elections in modern Russian history". Meduza. 20 March 2024. Wikidata Q125025516. Archived from the original on 20 March 2024.
12. ^ Emma Burrows (16 March 2024). "Russians cast ballots on Day 2 of an election preordained to extend President Vladimir Putin's rule". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 16 March 2024. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
13. ^ "Ukrainians living under Russian occupation are coerced to vote for Putin". Associated Press. 14 March 2024. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.