MIAMI (AP) — 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 U.N. Human Rights Council announced the opening of the probe in a letter to several Latin American jurists who in October petitioned the U.N. 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 U.S., European Union and even leftist allies from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico to do so.

Meanwhile, the opposition has published online what appear to be authentic tallies from 80% of polling machines showing that its candidate, Edmundo González, won by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The October petition, made on behalf of a regular Venezuelan citizen, alleges that Maduro officials committed multiple human rights violations by restricting the ability of millions of Venezuelans abroad, publishing false results and blocking any challenges in court.

Paulo Abrao, a Brazilian attorney who was among those behind the complaint, said the decision comes as a crucial time, as the Maduro government is seeking to "normalize its nebulous electoral process” in the hopes the rest of the world will move on amid so many other pressing international crises.

“We cannot allow that to happen,” said Abrao, the former head of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. “Now there is a formal case being processed in an international body with binding force. Venezuela has the obligation to comply with the decision.”

____

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america