The EU election mission’s invitation to witness Venezuela’s presidential election is revoked.
The EU election mission’s invitation to witness Venezuela’s presidential election is revoked.
The chairman of the National Electoral Council (CNE), which oversees Venezuela’s impending presidential election in which President Nicolás Maduro is running for reelection, announced that the country had withdrawn its invitation to a European Union mission to watch the poll.
The invitation was withdrawn due to economic measures imposed by the 27-nation bloc, according to Elvis Amoroso, the head of the National Electoral Council. The invitation that was sent out earlier this year has not yet been approved by the EU.
This action comes after the EU temporarily lifted sanctions on Amoroso and four other election officials earlier this month. Amoroso and the Venezuelan government, however, rejected the partial release and insisted on the total lifting of all sanctions. The legislature, which was dominated by the government, then approved a measure to revoke the EU’s observer invitation.
According to Amoroso, the decision was made to indicate that EU delegates are not welcome as long as Venezuela is subject to “genocidal sanctions.” The invitation to observe issued earlier this year has not yet been accepted by the EU. The revocation highlights the disagreements over sanctions and electoral legitimacy that exist between Venezuela and the EU.
The National Election Council was urged to reevaluate its judgment in a statement from the EU. “It is right and proper that the people of Venezuela select their next president through honest, open, and competitive elections backed by international monitoring, especially that of the European Union, which has a long and illustrious history of impartial and independent observation,” the statement on platform X read.
The electoral commission of Venezuela scheduled the presidential election for July 28 earlier this year and invited a number of organizations to watch the competition. The Unitary Platform opposition group, backed by the United States, and Maduro’s administration inked an agreement last year that included some of the provisions that those judgments fulfilled.
Both parties committed to enhance the circumstances for a free and fair election under the terms of the agreement struck on the Caribbean island of Barbados. Nevertheless, the government of Venezuela persistently challenged the agreement’s boundaries by, among other things, preventing María Corina Machado, the president’s main rival, from running for office.
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