The presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and of France, Emmanuel Macron, affirmed this Thursday that the impediments to the registration of the opposition candidacy of Corina Yoris in Venezuela for the July presidential elections are "serious."
Lula, who spoke to the press in a joint appearance with his French counterpart, on an official visit to Brazil, pointed out that the fact that Yoris has not been able to register as a candidate
is something that has no "political or legal" explanation.
"I don't want anything better or worse for Venezuela, I want the elections to be held like in Brazil, with the participation of everyone," said the Brazilian president.
At the Planalto Palace, the center-left leader recalled that he met with the Venezuelan head of state and candidate for re-election, Nicolás Maduro, on the sidelines of recent international summits and told him that "the most important thing was to restore normality and not have problems in the electoral process".
In this sense, Lula pointed out that the controversial disqualification that weighs on María Corina Machado, winner of the opposition primaries held last year, did not represent an "aggravating factor" to the conduct of the elections in Venezuela, scheduled for next July 28.
The president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, together in Brasilia, condemned the obstacles to the opposition in Venezuela. Photo: AP
"They also prohibited me from being a candidate when I was first in the polls (in 2018, a time when I was in prison for corruption convictions that were later annulled), and what did I do? I named another candidate and we lost the elections, something that forms part of the democratic process," explained the leader of the Brazilian Workers' Party.
He was referring to Fernando Haddad, who is now his Minister of Economy and was the presidential candidate in 2018, who was left out of the race, defeated by far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro.
"It has no explanation"
However, Lula described it as "serious" that "the other candidate", referring to Yoris, an 80-year-old academic who until now has never acted in politics and who has no type of dispute with justice, has not been able to register your aspiration.
According to the Venezuelan opposition, it was the Venezuelan electoral authorities who prevented Yoris from registering.
"It is something that caused harm (...) There is no legal or political explanation for prohibiting an opponent from being a candidate.
All adversaries must be treated with the same conditions
," said the Brazilian president.
For his part, Macron, who concluded a three-day visit to Brazil this Thursday, also described the situation in Venezuela as "serious" and warned that, in this context, the elections "cannot be considered democratic."
"We very strongly condemn the exclusion of the opposition candidate. Thus the situation has deteriorated," said the French head of state.
Source: EFE
C.B.