Citizens denounce “operation morrocoy” in Venezuela’s Electoral Registry process in the CNE’s Carabobo office
The time people spend in line outside the regional office of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Carabobo, located in the Padre Alfonso sector north of Valencia, is between five and six hours to be able to register or update data in the Permanent Electoral Registry (REP).
lapatilla.com correspondent
A young man, a resident of the south of Valencia, commented this Thursday that he joined the queue at 5:00 in the morning and it was almost 11:00 in the morning when he was finally able to complete the registration process.
People who were still in line mentioned that the registration process is “slow.” They pointed out that according to their calculations, the time a person spends completing the procedure at the CNE’s office is between 8 to 12 minutes.
“I arrived at 8:30 in the morning and around 9:10 in the morning a man from the CNE came out, meaning they are only open for about one hour, and he said that from this time until the end of opening hours there was no chance for us to pass. There is only one machine and it takes a long time, too long, it is a ‘morrocoy operation’ (slowdown),” said a young woman who was waiting in line to change her residence address.
In the midst of the sun and heat, an elderly woman stated that she had been in line for almost three hours and did not know if she would be able to complete the procedure this Thursday, due to the slowness of the process.
“This has been ‘morrocoy’ style. I am hypertensive, disabled and the queue is the same for the old, disabled. This is not how it should be, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen this. We don’t know if we will be able to go in because there is only one machine. I’m going to remain here until 12:00 or 1:00 in the afternoon,” said the lady, who is a resident of Ciudad Chávez, south of Valencia.
Despite the difficulties and the long waiting times, a person who did not want to give her identification assured that she will remain in line until the process is completed. She commented that it is the second attempt she has made to register in the Electoral Registry.
“The first time I arrived at 2:30 in the afternoon and it should close at 4:00 pm, and when I arrived they told me it was already closed, I asked why it was closed if the opening hours are until 4:00 pm and they told me that they had already calculated the number of people who were going to pass the day by 4:00 pm. I still stayed on and when there were about three people remaining and it was 4:00 pm, they didn’t let me go in, according to them the system only closes at 4:00 pm. And well, here we are again, since 9:00 in the morning, and the line has moved along because people have left. My motivation for signing up is the same as everyone, to make a change,” said the young woman.
Public service hours at this office are Monday to Sunday from 8:00 in the morning until 4:00 in the afternoon. During the period for registration and updating data in the Permanent Electoral Registry to be able to participate in the next presidential election on July 28th ends next April 16th.