“The election results have not been verified and cannot be considered representative of the will of the Venezuelan people until all official polling station records are published and verified,” Borrell said in a statement. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) officially proclaimed Nicolás Maduro as President today, amid doubts about his re-election, which have been rejected by the opposition and part of the international community. The EU’s High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy called on the CNE to act “with maximum transparency in the process of tabulating the results, including immediate access to the voting records of all polling stations and the publication of the disaggregated election results.” “The EU also calls on the authorities to ensure a full and timely investigation of any post-election complaints or claims,” it said. Borrell stressed that “reliable reports from national and international observers indicate that the elections were marked by numerous flaws and irregularities.” “Obstacles to the participation of opposition candidates, deficiencies in voter registration and unbalanced access to the media have contributed to creating an unequal electoral environment,” it said.
The EU also expressed concern about “arbitrary arrests and intimidation of members of the opposition and civil society throughout the electoral process and calls for the immediate release of all political prisoners.”
In addition to calling for calm, the EU also urged “the security forces to ensure full respect for human rights, including the right to peaceful assembly,” congratulating the Venezuelan people “for their determination to exercise their right to vote peacefully and en masse.”
In Sunday’s elections, Maduro faced the opposition’s majority candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, and eight other candidates.
Nicolas Maduro immediately reacted to the CNE’s proclamation, stressing that he had achieved the feat of defeating “fascism” in Sunday’s elections.
On Sunday night, the CNE announced that outgoing President Nicolás Maduro had been reelected for a third consecutive six-year term with 51.20% of the vote.
Maduro obtained 5.15 million votes, ahead of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who obtained just under 4.5 million votes (44.2%), according to the official figures announced.
Several countries have already congratulated Maduro on his victory, such as Russia, Nicaragua, Cuba, China and Iran, but other states in the international community, and recognized as democratic, have shown great concern about the transparency of the elections in Venezuela.
This was the case of Portugal, Spain and the United States.
Nine Latin American countries – Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay – today called for a “complete review” of the election results in Venezuela, a country with a significant community of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants.
