2018: The
European Union’s Negative Declaration on the Presidential Election in Venezuela
was called “Disgraceful” by European Election Observers
Venezuela’s Presidential Election was held on May 20,
2018.The Electoral Board announced that Nicolas Maduro had won the election.
His victory was certified by the Supreme Court which ruled that election fraud
reports lacked merit.
180 International Observers monitored the election and
released statements declaring that the election was “free and fair.” Among the
observers were academics and journalists from the UK, Spain, Germany and Italy.
The Electoral Council had requested that The European Union (EU) send a
delegation of Election Observers. The request was turned down by the EU.
On May 22, 2018, Federica Mogherini, the High Representative
of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, sent out an EU press release
containing a Declaration on the presidential election in Venezuela:[1]
·
“Major obstacles to the participation of
opposition political parties and their leaders, an unbalanced composition of
the National Electoral Council, biased electoral conditions, numerous reported
irregularities during the Election Day, including vote buying, stood in the way
of fair and equitable elections.”
On June 26, 2018, four election observers from the UK who
had monitored the Venezuelan election sent a letter to Mogherini. They included
three journalists (Jeremy Fox, Joseph Farrell, Calvin Tucker) and Dr Francisco
Dominguez, Professor of Latin American Studies, Middlesex University. In their
letter they said:[2]
·
“The claims in your press release are
fabrications of the most disgraceful kind, based on hearsay and not on evidence
and unworthy of the EU. It has not escaped notice that the EU was invited to
send observers to the election and declined to do so. NONE of the criticism in
your EU press release is, therefore based on direct EU observation in the
field.
· “As
for ‘reporting irregularities’, we would be interested to hear of examples,
since the reporting system is exceptionally rigorous and tamper-free. We doubt
you have any evidence to back up the EU’s claim of ‘numerous reporting
irregularities.”
1. Council of the EU, Declaration by
the High Representative on Behalf of the EU on the Presidential and Regional
Elections in Venezuela, Press Release, May 22, 2018. .
2. Tucker, C, Dominguez, F., Fox, J.,
and Farrell, J., International Observers to Venezuela’s Election Pen Letter
to the EU, Venezuelanalysis, June 26, 2018
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