The head of the group, the Portuguese Isabel Santos, specified that the campaign was marked by the use of state resources to support pro-government candidates.
The Observation Mission of the European Union in Venezuela identified irregularities in the elections of governors and mayors on Sunday, despite “better conditions” with respect to previous electoral processes, the head of the group, the Portuguese Isabel Santos, said on Tuesday.
Although “the Venezuelan electoral framework complies with most of the basic international standards, our mission has been able to verify the lack of judicial independence, non-adherence to the rule of law and that some laws affected the equality of conditions, balance and transparency of the elections, ”Santos declared at a press conference.
The ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) won the vast majority of positions in votes in which the main opposition political parties returned to the polls after refusing to participate in the 2018 elections, in which the president was reelected. Nicolás Maduro, and in those of 2020, in which Chavismo regained control of Parliament. They denounced them, then, as “fraudulent” processes.
Despite the “better conditions” that led to the return of the bulk of the opposition, including the appointment of new electoral authorities, the campaign “was marked by the extensive use of state resources” to support candidates, without that there should be “sanctions for violations,” Santos said.
Also “there have been arbitrary disqualifications of candidates by administrative means and the leaders and most recognized members of some parties have been suspended or withdrawn from control of their symbols and electoral card,” he added.
The EU representative thus referred to judicial decisions handed over by the strongest opposition parties to rivals of Juan Guaidó, a leader recognized since 2019 as president in charge of Venezuela by fifty countries without having been able to displace Maduro from power.
Santos also said that EU observers were “witnesses to the establishment of illegal checkpoints”, called “red spots”, by the ruling party in the vicinity of the voting centers.
He mourned the death of a voter at a polling station, in an event that Venezuelan authorities said was “isolated” from the election. (I)
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