The European Union insisted on Saturday that the National Electoral Council of Venezuela must publish the minutes of the presidential elections held on July 28 and submit them to an independent verification to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.
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The High Representative of the European bloc, Josep Borrell, stated in a press release that, so far, the Venezuelan authorities "have not provided the necessary public evidence" to evaluate the results of the elections in which the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolás Maduro as the winner.
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According to the electoral body, Maduro received 6.4 million votes and his rival, Edmundo González, got 5.3 million. Meanwhile, the opposition claims to have collected records from over 80% of the 30,000 electronic voting machines showing that their candidate won.
The EU thus joined the pressure from the international community calling for transparency in the process and rejecting the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Justice, which certified on Thursday the results of the CNE in favor of Maduro, who requested the expertise. International organizations have questioned the independence of the court composed of officials close to the regime.
"Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognized” to guarantee respect for the popular will of the Venezuelan people, as mentioned in the statement by Borrell."
On the other hand, the left-wing governments of Colombia and Brazil, close to Venezuela, made a joint statement saying they are "convinced that the credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data." Both countries have undertaken a diplomatic mediation effort with the stance of making the process transparent, thus reiterating their willingness to "facilitate" an understanding between the parties, as stated in the joint statement.
The main supporter of González and opposition leader, María Corina Machado, has repeatedly urged the international community to recognize what she considers was a resounding victory for González and to push for these results to be acknowledged by the government, as she stated on Saturday in a message posted on the social media platform X.
The Venezuelan government condemned Borrell's statement and stated that his behavior was "interventionist." In a statement from the Foreign Ministry on Saturday, it said that the "continued disrespect" for the sovereignty of the country by the EU could "considerably affect diplomatic, political, and economic relations."
Regarding Borrell's statement that, according to the minutes released by the opposition and which are public, Gonzalez "would seem to be the winner" by a "significant majority," the Venezuelan government said that they are "forged" documents.
Finally, he demanded that the European Union refrain from making comments on internal matters.
Yesterday, 10 countries from Latin America and the United States categorically rejected the ruling of the Venezuelan Supreme Court and called for an impartial audit.
The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States also protested and stated that "recognizing the results of the National Electoral Council based on the Supreme Court's ruling is validating an electoral fraud."
Even the Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, one of Maduro’s biggest allies in the region, stated that his government will wait for the National Electoral Council (CNE) to publish the electoral records before deciding whether to recognize the Venezuelan president as the winner.