The Government expressed this Monday, together with Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, its
"serious concern"
regarding the
"persistent impediments"
in the registration of
Venezuela
's presidential candidates before the National Electoral Council.
This is indicated in a Foreign Ministry statement that highlights that this situation and the previous disqualifications add "questions about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process in its entirety."
"At this time, the majority parties of the Venezuelan opposition—MUD and UNT—
have not been able to register their candidate, Corina Yoris
, to represent them in the next presidential elections. This situation, together with the previous disqualifications that have been public domain, adds questions about the integrity and transparency of the electoral process in its entirety," the text underlines.
Likewise, he maintains that the restrictions "prevent progress towards elections that allow a democratization process to be carried out" in Venezuela.
Press release: facing new obstacles to the electoral registration process in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
📎https://t.co/0ZUmVf4KeM pic.twitter.com/e1Hv6q6Y2J
— Argentine Foreign Ministry 🇦🇷 (@CancilleriaARG) March 25, 2024
The governments of those seven countries urged that
the situation "be reconsidered"
so that, at the end of the registration period, "citizens who meet the requirements enshrined in the Venezuelan Constitution can be duly registered, so that the "Brother Venezuelan people can freely choose their next government."
The Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), the main opposition alliance in Venezuela, assured this Monday that it had exhausted all avenues to be able to register the candidacy of the historian Corina Yoris for the presidential elections on July 28, something that, according to what it denounced, is has prevented them.
For 20 years, the situation in Venezuela has not stopped worsening.
Freedom and democracy no longer exist in that country, as confirmed by the number of political prisoners, disqualified candidates, human rights violations, persecution and intimidation of...
— Mauricio Macri (@mauriciomacri) March 25, 2024
From Buenos Aires and through social networks, former president Mauricio Macri expressed: "For 20 years, the situation in Venezuela has not stopped worsening. Freedom and democracy no longer exist in that country, as confirmed by the number of political prisoners. ", the disqualified candidates, the violations of human rights, the persecution and intimidation of any form of opposition. The dictatorship that Hugo Chávez began is an endless drama that has produced to date the largest exodus in the history of our continent."
And then he dedicated words of encouragement to Venezuelans: "I want to encourage the people of Venezuela to
unite and rise up against the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro and his accomplices
. I want you to know that you are not alone. The democratic forces of the world are with you. Confidence and strength!"
"We have exhausted all the means at our disposal so that this can be resolved," Yoris, designated as a presidential candidate by the PUD last Friday, said in a press conference due to the disqualification that prevents former deputy María Corina Machado, winner of the primaries last October, compete for public office in these and other elections until 2036.
Within hours of the end of the process of presenting candidates for the presidential elections, which began last Thursday, Yoris denounced that her "rights as a Venezuelan citizen are being violated" by not being able to "access the system and register" her name.
"It is not only the rights of Corina Yoris that are being violated, but it is also the rights of the political parties to offer a candidacy that represents that unity and it is also denying the rights of Venezuelans to nominate and elect the candidate they want to elect. "said the university professor.
With agency information