A fire has destroyed a large part of Venezuela’s voting machinery, in an election year.  Nearly 50,000 voting machines and almost 600 computers went up in flames when the main warehouse where it is stored in Caracas burned to the ground. The fire broke out on Saturday.

Venezuela’s elections council which called a news conference on Sunday said this may complicate parliamentary elections scheduled for this year. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) President Tibisay Lucena hosted a news conference yesterday but did not elaborate on how many voting machines were available to use. Lucena said she had asked state prosecutors to look into the cause of the blaze, which did not cause any injuries.

“In 2017, those who did not want elections were vicious against the voting machines. They attacked operators, they burned vehicles, they made death threats, they burned voting machines, but the election took place, Lucena said.

“If there are groups who think that they can stop the electoral processes they’re mistaken, they haven’t accounted for the determination of the men and women of the electoral branch”. The BBC is reporting that “Smartmatic, the company that manufactures the equipment, halted its Venezuelan operations in 2017 after a disputed referendum to create a parliamentary super body known as the Constituent Assembly. The firm said the results of that vote had been inflated by at least 1 million votes in favor of the government”.

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