Paraguay
TSJE attributed the zero certificate to a procedural error and ruled out another audit
Electoral authorities rejected the claim that the case denounced by Senator Éver Villalba proves a failure in the voting machines. They also reaffirmed that they will not release the source code or hand over the equipment for a new technical review.
Authorities of the Superior Court of Electoral Justice said that the TREP certificate with a zero result circulated by Liberal Senator Éver Villalba was not due to a technical failure in the voting machine, but to a human error committed during the closing of the polling station, according to Última Hora.
At a news conference, Carlos María Ljubetic, director of Electoral Processes; Luis Alberto Mauro, adviser; Fausto Von Streber, director of Information and Communication Technologies, and Christian Ruiz Díaz, director of Political Financing, took part. There they responded to allegations of a possible fraud.
Ljubetic said that what Villalba showed were not tally sheets, but TREP certificates, that is, preliminary election results transmission documents. According to his explanation, the case corresponded to the simultaneous internal elections of June 7.
According to the TSJE version cited by Última Hora, polling station members went straight to the count without having inserted the ballots into the machine. For that reason, the equipment printed a zero certificate. The official said that this shows the machine does not store results.
The agency also again denied the possibility of publishing the source code. Ljubetic noted that the material had already been shown to the technical representatives of the political parties in February, in a controlled setting, and stressed that its open release would contradict the terms of the contract and the company’s intellectual property.
Regarding the request for a new technical audit raised by Villalba, the TSJE insisted that it is not feasible. According to Ljubetic, the software and hardware audits were already carried out in February and, in addition, there was an additional review requested by the political parties, in which the PLRA was assigned May 27 and 28.
Still according to what was published by Última Hora, the official added that the technicians offered by the senator had previously said that one month was not enough for an audit and had even asked to have the machines for at least three months.
The TSJE also said that these machines will be used this year in the October municipal elections and in the election of lawyers for the Council of Magistrates in November. After that, Ljubetic added, the contract with Comitia will end and the leased equipment will be returned in December 2025.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not do its own reporting on this event.
