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VENEZUELA-VOTE-EU-UN
Conditions not ripe to send monitors to Venezuela vote: Group
BRUSSELS, Sept 18, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – European and Latin American ministers
said Thursday that conditions were not ripe to send observers to December 6
parliamentary elections in Venezuela as they would neither be free nor fair.
The Venezuelan government of President Nicolas Maduro two weeks ago invited
the leaders of the United Nations and European Union to send observers to
monitor the elections.
But ministers in the International Contact Group of EU and Latin American
countries said after their video conference on Thursday that this would not
be possible under current circumstances.
“ICG members concluded that conditions are not met, at the moment, for a
transparent, inclusive, free and fair electoral process,” the group said in a
statement after the conference chaired by EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell
of Spain.
The group called on Venezuela to respect the democratically elected
National Assembly, return control of political parties to their rightful
administrators, end the disqualification and prosecution of political
leaders, restore candidates’ rights to equal political participation, fully
update the voter register, and allow full access to all media.
“The ICG notes that the current electoral timetable does not allow the
deployment of an Election Observation Mission,” it said.
“Nor does it leave enough time and political space for the parties to
negotiate the conditions for credible, free and fair elections,” the group
said.
In response Maduro said it was “impossible” to postpone the vote, the
timetable of which is set by a constitutional mandate.
The United States has already said it will not contribute to “legitimizing
yet another electoral fraud” in Venezuela after Maduro’s government invited
the UN and the EU to monitor the elections.
Brazil called Thursday on the international community not to support the
vote.
In January 2019, National Assembly speaker Juan Guaido challenged Maduro’s
authority by declaring himself acting president, claiming Maduro had been
reelected in 2018 in a rigged vote.
Guaido quickly received the backing of more than 50 countries including the
United States.
The ICG groups European countries like Britain, France, Germany, Spain and
Italy with a number of Latin American countries. Argentina is back in the
group while Bolivia has left it.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0923 hrs