MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 22:12 UTC

 

 

US State Department calls on Venezuela to lift ban on opposition candidates

Wednesday, August 5th 2015 - 08:47 UTC
Full article 19 comments
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she had tried to register on Monday as a candidate but her application was rejected. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she had tried to register on Monday as a candidate but her application was rejected.
“We call on all relevant Venezuelan authorities to reconsider the ban imposed on candidates, and reiterate our call for credible and timely electoral observation” “We call on all relevant Venezuelan authorities to reconsider the ban imposed on candidates, and reiterate our call for credible and timely electoral observation”

The United States on Tuesday called on Venezuela to reverse a ban on opposition members from holding office and participating in the 6 December parliamentary elections. Washington made the request after opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she had tried to register on Monday as a candidate but her application was rejected.

 In a release the State Department said that the decisions by Venezuelan electoral officials “clearly have the intention of complicating the ability of the opposition” to contest the poll and to limit the field of candidates.

“The United States views with concern reports of recent decisions by the Venezuelan National Electoral Council and Comptroller General banning certain members of the political opposition from running for or holding public office. These decisions clearly have the intention of complicating the ability of the opposition to run candidates for the legislative elections, and limiting the range of candidates that can be presented to the Venezuelan people.

”Democracy must be inclusive. Its purpose is to provide a broad enough range of choice for voters to express their preferences in meaningful fashion. To this end, we call on all relevant Venezuelan authorities to reconsider the ban imposed on candidates, and reiterate our call for credible and timely electoral observation. We encourage the appropriate institutions to ensure that Venezuelans can exercise their right to participate in the upcoming elections, as candidates and voters, in keeping with Venezuela’s democratic traditions and in accordance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter”.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • ilsen

    Hurrah!
    The world is starting to take notice.

    Cue Ma-burro screaming about US imperialism and telling them to butt out. However, when the US speaks the world listens. Hopefully this will draw more international interest and pressure.

    Aug 05th, 2015 - 10:20 am 0
  • ElaineB

    @1 Exactly, it is about drawing attention to what Maduro is doing.

    Aug 05th, 2015 - 11:27 am 0
  • Conqueror

    I'm puzzled. I looked up “tradition”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tradition
    Then I looked up the history of Venezuela.

    How does the US get to refer to “Venezuela’s democratic traditions”?

    Aug 05th, 2015 - 11:38 am 0
Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!