MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU cannot recognize Maduro's alleged victory

“The European Union is gravely concerned about the increasing number of arbitrary arrests and the continued harassment of the opposition,” Brussels said in a statement

The European Union (EU) pointed out Sunday that the results announced by Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) granting victory to the incumbent Nicolás Maduro “cannot be recognized” given the lack of documentation supporting it, due to which a “greater independent verification of the electoral records” was needed.

“Reports from international election observation missions clearly state that the July 28 presidential elections did not meet international standards of electoral integrity,” the EU said in a statement. “Without supporting evidence, the results published on August 2 by the CNE cannot be recognized,” it added after Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, and Portugal issued a joint statement Saturday calling on “the Venezuelan authorities to publish without delay all the voting records in order to guarantee the full transparency and integrity of the electoral process.”

The EU also urged Venezuelan authorities to respect the protests that have left so far over 2,000 arrests and two military dead, while the NGO Foro Penal reports 11 civilians dead since the demonstrations began.

“The Venezuelan authorities, including the security forces, must fully respect human rights, including freedom of expression and assembly. The European Union is gravely concerned about the increasing number of arbitrary arrests and the continued harassment of the opposition,” Sunday's document also noted.

Last Friday, the CNE issued a second bulletin ratifying Maduro's alleged victory with 51.95% of the vote against Edmundo Gonzále Urrutia's 43.18% with 96.87% of the polling stations counted.

In response, Maduro called the EU's declaration regarding his country's internal affairs a “shameless” attitude. ”The same European Union that recognized [former Venezuelan self-proclaimed interim President Juan]Guaidó, a disgrace the EU, Mr. [EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep] Borrell is a disgrace who led Ukraine to war and now washes his hands, who is silent about the massacre in Gaza and genocide (...) now says that in Venezuela there is repression of peaceful demonstrations,” Maduro argued during the celebrations of the 87th anniversary of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) at the Defense Ministry in Caracas.

”Peaceful when they attack the population, when they attack hospitals, CDI (Integral Diagnostic Center), schools, bus units, subway stations, etc. Peaceful when they capture a police officer at her workplace, assault her, and try to kill her?” Maduro also wondered.