Venezuelan opposition tries to re-unite after participation in questioned elections

After the regional elections in which the main opposition parties participated after several years, the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó – recognized by several countries as interim president, but without internal control – called this Saturday for the reunification of the anti-Chavista bloc in the Caribbean country to achieve a “national salvation agreement” and “free” presidential elections that “allow the solution to the crisis.”

This, while the European Union (EU) mission, which broke a 15-year absence to accompany the regional elections in Venezuela two weeks ago, reported that it will leave the country on Sunday, after seven weeks of work in which it identified several irregularities in the process.

Two days after the elections, in which Chavismo swept most of the positions, the head of the mission, Isabel Santos, presented preliminary conclusions in which they found “better conditions” than in previous votes, according to AFP. However, they detected irregularities such as the use of public resources in the campaign, the “arbitrary” disqualification of candidates, and the establishment of government party control points in voting centers.

Denying the irregularities reported by the mission, the president of the regime, Nicolás Maduro, called European observers “enemies” and “spies.”

In addition to the presence of international observers, which included small panels from the Carter Center and the United Nations, the elections saw the return of the main opposition parties, after marginalizing themselves in the 2018 presidential elections, in which Maduro was reelected, and the parliamentary elections of 2020, in which Chavismo regained control of Congress. They denounced, then, both processes as “fraudulent”.

Questioned by the main leaders of Chavismo, the EU mission will publish a final report “that will include recommendations for future electoral processes”, during a visit in January or February, which will be notified to the authorities in advance.

The Carter Center released a preliminary report on Friday that also reflected “patterns of political repression, severe restrictions on the rights of political participation and freedom of expression, overt government advantage and unequal conditions.”

But “despite these democratic deficits,” the negotiations between sectors of the opposition and the ruling party gave rise to important changes such as the recomposition of the electoral body CNE and the presence of international observation.

Meanwhile, Guaidó assured that what happened in the state of Barinas – birthplace of the late President Hugo Chávez -, where the Supreme Court of Justice ordered the repetition of the elections for the position of governor, is an “example” for the “world” of that in the Caribbean country there is no “rule of law that guarantees respect for the will of the people,” according to EFE.

In a statement, published by the Supreme Court, the same one that ordered the elections to be repeated, it was also indicated that “the projections recorded by the National Electoral Council (CNE) give a percentage of votes in favor of the candidate Freddy Superlano, of 37.60 % with respect to the 37.21% of votes obtained by the candidate (official) Argenis Chávez ”.

Faced with this situation and failing to reach a consensus, the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court declared, “by mere right, the resolution of the constitutional amparo action filed with a request for precautionary measure” and resolved to disqualify the exercise of any public office from opponent Freddy Superlano.

The disqualification was announced after Freddy Superlano could register in the CNE’s automated system as a candidate, without the latter canceling his application by default in form or data, as he did with other applicants. (I)