02/26/2021 15:38
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 02/26/2021 3:39 PM
The Argentine ambassador to the Organization of American States, Carlos Raimundi, rejected the appointment of the former Buenos Aires governor María Eugenia Vidal as veedora of the Organization of American States (OAS) for the legislative elections to be held in El Salvador this Sunday and called to "take into account the criteria of the OAS manual for electoral missions."
Through a letter addressed to the Secretary General of the OAS, Luis Almagro, Raimundi expressed his
"total disagreement
with his insistence on appointing Argentine citizens belonging to the same political party to Electoral Observation missions in our region", referring to Juntos for the change.
Message from the Chief of the Electoral Observation Mission of the #OEAenElSalvador @mariuvidal prior to the elections on Sunday February 28 # Elecciones2021 🇸🇻 pic.twitter.com/aizmUXVLk0
- OEA (@OEA_oficial) February 26, 2021
Although he did not directly name Vidal, in the letter he stated that “the criteria of the OAS manual for electoral missions should be taken into account, which indicates that those persons who, at the time of the convocation,
are part of the
electoral mission, will not be eligible.
national directive of a political party
”.
"The OAS electoral observation missions should strictly adhere to objective technical criteria and avoid exceeding their powers, which has led to
serious institutional crises
, such as the one that occurred in Bolivia in 2019," Raimundi remarked.
The Argentine official was in the middle of a strong controversy in September of last year, when before the Permanent Council of the OAS he referred to the crisis in Venezuela and defended the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Shortly after, he changed his position and
acknowledged that there are human rights violations
in the Caribbean country, as indicated in a report prepared by the UN.
As Head of the Electoral Observation Mission of the @OEA_oficial I thank the President @nayibbukele for having received us last night at the presidential residence to talk about the electoral process #OEAenElSalvador # Elecciones2021 pic.twitter.com/U9IkL5XslQ
- María Eugenia Vidal (@mariuvidal) February 26, 2021
Vidal was appointed as the head of the Electoral Observation Mission (MOE) for the legislative elections to be held this Sunday in El Salvador.
In December 2020, the former secretary for Strategic Affairs of the macrismo Fulvio Pompeo had been appointed as head of an OAS mission in Guatemala.
In this sense, the ambassador to the OAS expressed his "total disagreement with his insistence on appointing Argentine citizens belonging to the same political party in my country to the Electoral Observation missions in our region."
This Friday, the OAS published a message from Vidal on its social networks, in which the former governor of Buenos Aires addressed Salvadoran citizens.
"Throughout these days we have met to listen to all political actors, representatives of civil society forces and electoral authorities, in order to produce a report to strengthen institutions and democracy," he explained.
And he asked
"to wait patiently and calmly for the results
."
The report of the mission headed by Vidal will be presented weeks after the election to the Permanent Council of the OAS.
LM