Un Nuevo Tiempo On 2 December 2017, Vicente Bello, the National Electoral Council representative of the Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) opposition political party denounced irregularities during the audit of the voting machines and delivered a document to UNT leader that stated that "the established protocol related to the selection of samples by status in the line of production and their subsequent verification", "the schedules set for the start of daily activity" and that the respective shifts were modified without prior notice, warning that the CNE did not establish that the samples of the selected machines were subsequently verified for proper functioning. The electoral technician clarified that the UNT would not participate in the preparation and signing of the minutes that would be carried out as result of the audit of the production of voting machines. Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy The Global Observatory of Communication and Democracy (El Observatorio Global de Comunicación y Democracia (OGCD) is an NGO whose mission statement says it 'aims to strengthen democratic values in Latin America') detected several irregularities since the announcement of the elections, including that it must have been done with six months of anticipation to comply with the electoral norms, organizing the electoral process in less than a month. The Observatory also states that the law establishes that the election of the representatives of the municipal councils should have been done along the municipal elections and that the CNE violated the Special Law of the Municipal Regime of the by suspending the election of the metropolitan mayors of Caracas and , as well as the representatives to the metropolitan cabildos (town halls). Days after the elections, on 20 December 2017, the Constituent Assembly approved the Constituent Decree for the Suppression and Liquidation of the Metropolitan Area and the Alto Apure District, dissolving both entities. On 9 January 2018, the National Assembly with opposition majority declared the "absolute nullity" of the Constituent's Assembly decision to suppress the entities. Likewise, the Observatory indicated that the norms corresponding to the announcement were violated by publishing the electoral schedule without formal announcements or press conference of the electoral body and by performing electoral activities, such as the nomination of candidates, before the publication of the schedule. It also declared that norms related to the candidates postulation were also violated by granting only five days for the application, curation, admission and rejection, interposition, decision of appeals