- EU does not recognise Maduro's claimed election victory
The European Union does not recognize the official result of the presidential election in Venezuela without a full disclosure of the vote records. This was announced by the spokesman of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, Peter Stano, on Sunday evening.
After an election last Sunday accompanied by allegations of fraud, the loyal electoral authority CNE declared the authoritarian president since 2013, Nicolás Maduro, the winner. However, it has not yet published the detailed results of the individual polling stations. According to the opposition, these show that their candidate Edmundo González Urrutia won with a clear lead over Maduro.
Any attempt to delay the full publication of the official election results will only further question their credibility, the EU statement said. Stano also expressed concern about the growing number of "arbitrary arrests" and ongoing harassment of the opposition.
The USA and a half dozen Latin American countries have already recognized opposition candidate González as the winner. On Sunday, Germany and other European countries demanded the publication of the vote records. "We express our deep concern about the situation in Venezuela following the presidential elections last Sunday," said a joint statement by Germany, France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal.
The EU's refusal to acknowledge the official 'election victory' of Maduro underscores their demand for transparency in the release of vote records. Any further delay in publishing the full 'election results' could potentially undermine their legitimacy further.
