European Union to send technical mission to Venezuela to assess possibility of auditing November elections

The European Union (EU) will send a technical mission to Venezuela to assess whether it is possible to deploy another observation mission for the upcoming local and regional elections in November, after having appreciated a “possible political opening” in the country, as announced on Monday by the head of community diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

“In Venezuela, there is a possible political opening”Borrell said at a press conference at the end of an EU Foreign Ministers Council. “I will send a technical assessment mission to help determine whether the conditions for sending an observation mission to the November elections will be met.”, he stressed.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Policy met last Friday in Antalya (Turkey) at an international forum with the Chancellor of the Venezuelan dictatorship, Jorge Arreaza. This was the first meeting of this level between the parties in two years.

During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations and the political situation in the country. Borrell stressed that “the only way to advance the democratic process is through political dialogue”, as he wrote on the social network Twitter after the meeting.

They also discussed the access to vaccines against the coronavirus and on the situation in the region.

Asked about the conditions for sending an election observation mission, Borrell replied that they are very varied and that they must respond to security concerns or that at the political level, it is necessary “That the people we send can do their jobs in a safe environment, with the ability to truly observe without obstacles.

In addition, he indicated that the technical team going to Venezuela must check “a priori” if the elections can be “fair and free” or if there are “certain degrees of legitimacy”, and translate it all into a report so that Borrell himself decides whether to send the election observation mission or not.

That the EU consider the elections fair Yes free “It will depend on the result of the observation”, since “I can’t envision something free and right before it happens.”

In any case, Borrell considered “good and possible to have the eyes on the ground, to have the possibility of observing, because in certain cases where we did not send an observation mission, frankly I think that we regretted it ”. “In the end, we would have been very happy if we could have had our own assessment of the situation.», He concluded.

The European Union has failed in its efforts to promote internal political dialogue between the regime of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan opposition so that the elections to the National Assembly (AN) of yesteryear December 6 was “democratic, free and fair”.

“We did not succeed, so we did not recognize the result of these elections (…) But now we are in a situation where some things have improved on the electoral question”a senior community official said last week.

He also stressed that the EU appreciated the “positive measures” on the part of the Venezuelan authorities, even though it still considers that a “real openness of the regime” is “far”.

Among them the configuration of the National Electoral Council “The most representative in 21 years”, with two of its five members representing the opposition.

The National Electoral Council has sent an invitation to the EU to observe the elections next November. However, as the world demands free elections from the Chavista regime, Maduro has sought advice from Turkey on the organization of the elections.

The regimes of Venezuela and Turkey strengthened their cooperation in electoral matters last Friday after a meeting between the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of the Caribbean country, Pedro Calzadilla, and the Turkish Ambassador in Caracas, Sevki Mütevellioglu.

The meeting was held at the headquarters of the Venezuelan electorate, according to a press release from the CNE, and the meeting addressed issues related to the new leadership of the institution, appointed more than a month ago and the “reliability of the electoral system”.

In addition, according to the entity, the Turkish ambassador expressed his country’s interest “To support the next electoral process” of November 21 in which the governors and mayors of the country’s 23 states and 335 municipalities will be elected, respectively.

“The Turkish Ambassador expressed his country’s commitment to send a delegation to accompany the upcoming regional and municipal elections to be held on November 21, stressing the importance of international organizations accompanying this important activity ”, declared the CNE. The diplomat also invited Calzadilla to visit Turkey and “explore questions of cooperation with his Turkish counterpart”.

The last Two electoral processes in Venezuela have been called into question by the international community and the Venezuelan opposition, believing that they lacked the necessary elements to ensure that these are democratic elections.

(With information from EFE)

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