The top United Nations human rights watchdog on Tuesday ordered Venezuela to avoid destroying tally sheets and other electoral material as it investigates allegations that President Nicolás Maduro stole this summer’s election.
The UN Human Rights Council announced the opening of the probe in a letter to several Latin American jurists who in October petitioned the UN agency to take action in the face of what is said was widespread evidence of electoral fraud that violates the political rights of millions of Venezuelans.
Maduro claimed he won the July contest by a large margin and is preparing to start a third, six-year term in January.
But electoral authorities have so far refused to publish voting records to back such claims, as they have in the past, amid calls by the United States, European Union, and even leftist allies from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico to do so.
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