The European Union election observation mission pointed out on Tuesday that there were several irregularities during Sunday's regional elections in Venezuela which saw a landslide victory for President Nicolás Maduro's party, during the presentation of his preliminary report. "
Our mission was able to observe the lack of judicial independence, the non-adherence to the rule of law and that certain laws affected the equality of conditions, the balance and the transparency of the elections
", affirmed the head of mission, Isabel Santos, who also mentioned “
the use of State resources
” or the “
arbitrary
”
non-validation
of certain candidatures.
Read alsoWashington denounces "distorted" local elections in Venezuela
Another criticism: the existence of "
puntos rojos
" (red dots) near polling stations, illegal check points held by President Maduro's party whose colors are red.
The mission, the first for 15 years in Venezuela, also noted improvements in the “
conditions
” of voting compared to previous polls and specified that the “
electoral framework respects most basic international standards
”.
In this ultra-violent country, Ms. Santos regretted "
the murder of a voter
" queuing at a polling station and "
assaults
", without giving the perpetrators.
Authorities have promised investigations.
Divided opposition
President Maduro's party won 20 of 23 governorships and mayoralty in Caracas, according to provisional results announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The ballot was marked by the return of the opposition after the boycotts of the legislative elections of 2020 and the presidential election of 2018. The opposition, very divided, failed to organize to compete with the party of President Maduro, however weakened by an unparalleled economic crisis in this oil country, according to most observers.
GDP per capita has fallen to the level of Haiti's.
Read also Venezuela: local elections with national scope
The government, which seeks to lift some of the economic sanctions, especially from the United States which does not recognize President Maduro, had made several concessions for this election in order to give pledges of goodwill and democracy to the international community.
He had notably accepted a reform of the CNE or the presence of the European mission but also of observers from the Carter Foundation or the UN.
For the opposition, this first participation in an election since 2017 should serve as a starting point for the 2024 presidential election.
