**July 28, 2024 / Venezuela / Jurisdiction as State Power and Constitutional Fraud**

The court lacks the jurisdiction to hear the electoral dispute filed by candidate NM because the matters at hand (the popular vote and the procedure for proclaiming an elected candidate) fall under the administrative jurisdiction of the Electoral Power, represented by the National Electoral Council (CNE). It’s essential to distinguish between the concepts of jurisdiction and competence, both of which are procedural in nature.

**Jurisdiction** refers to the authority granted by the Constitution or law to a public administrative body or court to exercise state functions within a specific scope. **Competence**, on the other hand, pertains to the extent of authority that a body has within its jurisdiction to act according to the constitutional or legal powers granted to it. In judicial matters, competence is determined by the amount, subject matter, and territory.

In the context of elections, jurisdiction over the entire process of electing public officials is a specific function that the Constitution assigns to the CNE as a State Power. This includes exclusive authority over actions such as voting, voter registration, vote counting, result auditing, and the proclamation of results.

The omission of these acts by the CNE, widely recognized even by international actors such as UN rapporteurs and the Carter Center, can only be subjected to judicial review through an abstention appeal. This appeal’s sole purpose is to compel the CNE to fulfill its constitutional and legal duties, which cannot be avoided.

Consequently, any appeal filed before these administrative acts and procedures have been completed by the entity with exclusive jurisdiction is inadmissible, as there is no legal basis for its presentation. From a judicial perspective, such an appeal is inadmissible due to the lack of standing or interest of the appellant, considering that, on one hand, there is no administrative act causing harm, and on the other hand, the appellant benefitted from an irregular action by the CNE president who announced a result without following due administrative procedure, resulting in no injured subjective right that legitimizes the filing of the appeal.

Therefore, the admission, processing, and resolution of the proposed appeal before the Electoral Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court are acts of absolute nullity for being blatantly contrary to the law. The Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court has the duty, by virtue of its constitutional function, to declare ex officio the nullity of such acts, thereby terminating the omissions of the CNE, which failed to fulfill its responsibilities, and the action of the «Electoral Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court» , which usurped the administrative functions of the CNE. This undermines popular sovereignty and violates Article 5 of the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (CRBV).

However, it is also a well-known fact that the «Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court», along with the «Political-Administrative Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court» and the «Plenary Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court», follow a political line of service and cooperation—not as a State power, but as subordinates to the political interests of the National Executive, which maintains absolute control over all State Powers. This makes their function of administering justice an institutional facade, used to legitimize arbitrary acts and de facto actions of the State.

Under these circumstances, NM’s use of electoral jurisdiction following the CNE’s omissions has been the last «institutional» recourse to arbitrarily impose a result «by hook or by crook» against the popular will, which was clearly expressed in a majority vote for Edmundo González Urrutia’s candidacy, outcome that has been widely recognized by the Venezuelan and foreign public since the night of July 28th … a bitter reality that compels Venezuela to fight to the very end!.

**Del & Me Co**