Elections in Venezuela: “Democratic expectations were not met,” says government of Spain

The regional elections in Venezuela represented an “improvement” compared to previous elections but did not meet “democratic expectations”, the government of Spain estimated this Wednesday. a day after the European Union observation mission made a similar assessment.

“The regional and municipal elections held on November 21 in Venezuela have not met democratic expectations even assuming an improvement over previous calls,” said the statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The left-wing government of Pedro Sanchez echoed the preliminary findings of the EU mission in the elections in which the ruling party of Nicolas Maduro and they marked the return to the polls of a good part of the opposition: There were “significant improvements (…) but not enough given that serious deficiencies persist.”

The EU mission listed irregularities such as an official campaign that used public resources, arbitrary disqualifications of candidates or the placement of partisan checkpoints in voting centers.

“Spain calls on the Venezuelan authorities to put an end to these practices (…) and to quickly resume negotiations with the opposition to guarantee that the next presidential elections are fully free and competitive,” the statement said.

Madrid appreciated the participation of the opposition in these elections and showed its “willingness to work with the different actors of the electoral system to comply with the recommendations” of the EU mission, which returned to work in an election in Venezuela after 15 years .

Despite recurring tensions with Caracas in recent times, the Spanish government affirms that it supports a dialogue between the Maduro regime and the opposition with a view to trying to overcome the prolonged political and economic crisis in the South American country. (I)