Nearly half a hundred countries and the European Union as a bloc called on the Venezuelan authorities on Thursday at the United Nations to publish “immediately” the detailed outcome of the presidential elections on 28 July and allow for “unbiased verification.”
“We urge the National Electoral Council (CNE) to publish immediately the results of the vote on the presidential election of all polling stations and allow impartial verification of the results by independent observers for the credibility, legitimacy and transparency of the electoral process,” A statement read by the Foreign Minister of Panama, Javier Martínez-Acha, read. Argentina, Australia, Chile, Ecuador, France, Italy, Japan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Spain, Uruguay, United Kingdom and the United Kingdom are among the 49 signatory countries, in addition to the European Union.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who denounces fraud in the re-election of President Nicolás Maduro and claims a triumph of candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, celebrated this declaration as “a victory” in the “path to democratic transition.”
“Everyone knows that Edmundo González Urrutia is the president-elect of Venezuela,” Machado wrote on the X social network. Without having published the detailed scrutiny, as ordered by law, the Venezuelan electoral authorities attributed the victory to Maduro, despite the opposition claiming that González Urrutia, exiled in Spain since Sunday, was the winner with more than 60% of the vote.
According to a preliminary report by a UN panel of experts, released on August 13, the CNE “did not comply with the basic measures of transparency and integrity” and “unfulfilled” the deadlines set. “It is time for Venezuelans to conduct constructive and inclusive negotiations to resolve this impassive electoral and peacefully restore democratic norms (…) and the wishes of Venezuelans,” says the joint statement released at the UN. The signatories also express “great concern” about human rights abuses and violations such as “repression, arbitrary arrests and arrests, murders and denial of guarantees for fair trials, as well as tactics of intimidation against the opposition.”
This article has been translated after first appearing in Diario El Mundo