The EU Observer Mission reported on Tuesday (November 23) that there were irregularities in Venezuela’s weekend elections for governor and mayor. This is the first time the opposition party has participated since 2017.
Although “conditions are better than previous elections,” observers pointed out that “there is a lack of compliance with the rule of law.”
The EU election observers began their mission in Venezuela on October 28. This is the first time that the EU has sent observers to Venezuela in 15 years.
Task leader Isabel Santos told reporters that “some laws have affected the equality, balance and transparency of elections” and this happened in the context of “lack of judicial independence”.
President Nicolas Maduro’s government won an overwhelming victory in Sunday’s voting, and its 2018 elections were not recognized by some of the international community.
Weakened and divided, the opposition won only three of the 23 states, although this mainly includes the oil-rich Zulia, the most populous region of the country, and its capital, Maracaibo, is Venezuela’s second largest city. .
Santos said the campaign was characterized by “extensive use of national resources” and pointed out that candidates were “arbitrarily disqualified.”
She said that observers also witnessed the establishment of so-called “red dots” or illegal control points near several polling stations by agents of the ruling party.
The delegation stated that it regretted that a voter was shot dead at a polling station, which the government said had nothing to do with the election.
‘Severely tilted’
During his controversial presidency, the left-wing Maduro saw the South American country as a target of economic sanctions and sought to relax punishment by carefully showing goodwill and democratic intent.
With hundreds of millions of dollars in funds frozen abroad, Venezuela hopes to sell its oil more easily — the United States has historically been its largest customer — and end import restrictions.
The government made a series of meticulous concessions, negotiated with the opposition, and invited election observers from the European Union, the United Nations, and the Carter Center in the United States to witness Sunday’s vote to improve its legitimacy.
The opposition has boycotted the election for the past three years. They believe it is neither free nor fair, and agreed to participate in Sunday’s election after obtaining the government’s guarantee.
Opposition leaders hope to improve their image by participating and gain support before the presidential elections scheduled for 2024, but they are helpless due to their own internal differences.
On the eve of the vote, Maduro warned that in a country that is sensitive to its “sovereignty” and often accused of American interventionism, the EU has no right to make a “ruling” on this process.
The president said: “All international escorts must respect Venezuelan laws and must strictly abide by the rules that invite them to vote.”
The United States, which also has observers in Venezuela, called the vote “severely skewed” on Monday.
According to data from the Central Bank, Venezuela was once a wealthy oil producer and is currently struggling with the eighth year of economic recession and hyperinflation, reaching nearly 3,000% in 2020 and over 9,500% in the previous year.
According to a recent study, three-quarters of Venezuelans live in extreme poverty, and US sanctions and the coronavirus pandemic have made the economic crisis worse.
In recent years, millions of people have left the country to try their luck elsewhere.
