European Union technical mission arrived in Venezuela to assess possible observation of regional elections

The technical mission of the European Union (EU) which will assess whether it is possible to deploy another observation mission for the next local and regional elections in November in Venezuela has arrived in the country, as reported on Thursday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Venezuelan dictatorship.

“The European Union exploratory mission has arrived in Venezuela and will hold meetings with public authorities and political actors in preparation for election day on November 21, during which Venezuelans will elect governors, mayors, lawmakers and counselors.”, the Chavist Foreign Ministry said on Twitter.

The Foreign Ministry accompanied the message with photographs of the group already in Venezuela. According to information previously provided by the National Electoral Council of Venezuela (CNE), The mission will be in the country until July 23.

The electorate had also indicated that the mission would be composed of three officials and four electoral experts.

On June 21, the EU High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep borrell, announced the dispatch of a technical mission to assess whether it is possible to deploy another observation mission for the next local and regional elections in November, after having appreciated a “Possible political opening” in the country.

“In Venezuela, there is a possible political opening”said the Spanish diplomat at a press conference following an EU Council of Foreign Ministers.

“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 Chancellor of the Venezuelan dictatorship, Jorge ArreazaHe said a day later that the European Union’s election observation mission in regional and local elections in the Caribbean country would be “welcome”.

For his part, the interim president Juan Guaido, which has not yet defined whether the sector that supports it will participate in the next elections, also welcomed the mission.

The opposition leader said on Wednesday he hopes that the mission make a “clear assessment” of the electoral system, who, he argued, “was protected by a dictatorship, which constantly persecuted members of political parties, guidelines, disqualifications”.

He stressed that he hopes that this mission will come “to pay” by realizing the conditions for the holding of “free and fair” elections. “What we Venezuelans want are conditions, precisely, so this assessment must reflect conditions, not only technical, but also political.“He added.

He also stated that he fully trusted the European Union and in the standards that the community bloc must consider an electoral process “credible”.

“Our big request regarding the technical visit which begins this Wednesday in Venezuela is to comply with European standards in the face of a process of free and fair elections”said the Venezuelan opposition leader, stressing that if this is done, the opposition will assess the relevance of participating or not in the November elections.

According to Guaido, In Venezuela, there are currently no conditions for elections due to the fact that there are disqualified parties and politicians and political prisoners.. According to him, “unfortunately” in Venezuela “an election is not planned”, but “a milestone” and enshrined in the Constitution, like the elections. “It’s convenient for the dictatorship.”

For him, defended that the holding of regional and local elections is not the solution to the political conflict. The interim president of Venezuela reiterated that the solution, in his opinion, must be given by an agreement which offers guarantees to the parties.

Since May, the opponent has been promoting what he called a “National Salvation Accord” for the holding of “free and fair” general elections in the country.. As he indicated, he seeks to achieve this agreement through a process of negotiation with the regime of Nicolás Maduro and although the parties have expressed their willingness to sit down and discuss, the process does not succeed. has not yet materialized.

Guaidó remarked that they are still in conversations with the delegation of Norway who could act as an intermediary in the process.

The EU, near United States Yes Canada, expressed his willingness to “review” the sanctions against the Nicolás Maduro regime as long as these negotiations with the opposition show progress towards holding “free elections”.

A European commission had already visited Venezuela in 2020 to try to convince the Chavist authorities to postpone the legislative elections of that year. so that an observation mission can accompany them. But the efforts did not prosper and the elections, unknown to the international communityThey were carried out without the participation of the opposition and with several leaders banned by the regime’s justice.

The EU considers that the Parliament elected in 2015, whose mandate expired in January 2021 “This is the last free expression of Venezuelans in an electoral process.”

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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