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Ireland's Sinn Féin attends Maduro's inauguration and praises Venezuelan election

Tuesday, January 15th 2019 - 09:19 UTC
Full article 2 comments
Conor Murphy said that Sinn Féin “wanted to show solidarity with the democratic choice of the Venezuelan people”. Conor Murphy said that Sinn Féin “wanted to show solidarity with the democratic choice of the Venezuelan people”.

A Sinn Féin MLA has defended his attendance at the inauguration of the Venezuelan president and denied that the election was fraudulent. Nicolas Maduro was sworn in for a second term as Venezuela's president last Thursday.

There has been international criticism that his re-election was illegitimate.

Conor Murphy was one of two Sinn Féin representatives to attend the inauguration. The party said it was invited by the Venezuelan government. The May 2018 polls in Venezuela were marred by an opposition boycott and claims of vote-rigging.

Sinn Féin's attendance has been condemned by other parties in the Republic of Ireland.

However, Mr Murphy, speaking to BBC News NI after returning to Northern Ireland, said he knows more about the situation in Venezuela than his party's critics.

He said that Sinn Féin “wanted to show solidarity with the democratic choice of the Venezuelan people”.

“We've had representatives there, as we have in many countries across the world on a number of occasions,” he said. Mr Murphy said that he is satisfied the electoral system is robust.

“I went there in 2012 for the last presidential election, at the request of the Electoral Commission, with people from all over these islands, parliamentarians from Britain.

”We observed the electoral process, we were taken through it, we met people on polling day, we spoke to the opposition, we spoke to candidates, we spoke to ordinary people that were coming to vote.

”The Jimmy Carter institute (The Carter Centre) examined the electoral system and declared it to be one of the most advanced electoral systems in the world, with fair and transparent elections.”
The US and 13 other countries in the Americas said last week that they would not recognize Mr Maduro's presidency.

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  • :o))

    Does anyone know about the kind of mischief Conor Murphy is up to?

    Jan 17th, 2019 - 10:07 am 0
  • imoyaro

    Well the IRA was training FARC, and three members are on the lam in Ireland after being convicted,(which reminds me of Kamerad/Komrade Rique.) Venezuela was sheltering FARC operatives on its territory from where they could strike into Colombia and escape back across the border into safety with impunity. Just terrorists showing solidarity with each other...

    Jan 21st, 2019 - 12:27 am 0
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