MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguayan Court rules out international audit of voting machines

The TSJE said such an audit would be unnecessary

Paraguay's Superior Electoral Court (TSJE) of Paraguay Thursday decided not to accept the request of several political sectors to submit to an international audit the computer system software and the voting machines used in the general elections of last April 30 on the grounds that it could produce a “breach” of the control mechanisms.

“To accede to the request would produce a breach of the procedure and the established control mechanisms by trying to compress in a single act what in our positive order is conceived to be done gradually,” argues the 12-page ruling.

The TSJE also argued that an audit was already carried out prior to the elections by a team of experts from the Center for Electoral Promotion and Consultancy, together with the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (CAPEL/IDH) who visited the country on March 26, 2023, and who submitted their final report on May 9, 2023.

“This activity was conveniently disclosed in the web portal of the institution, where further details thereof are available, according to this, the request for an international audit deserves to be rejected as unnecessary”, states the resolution.

The TSJE also declined to open what is known as envelope number 4 for the manual counting of paper votes. “The electoral code establishes that the vote is secret but the scrutiny is public and that it be carried out at the place of the vote, therefore a recount of votes is a private act, it is a procedure not foreseen in our positive ordinance,” the document states.

The Court made its decision amid a tense climate of violent protests for alleged electoral fraud, for which former Senator and presidential candidate Paraguayo Cubas has been placed under pre-trial detention.