Venezuela has refused to extend the visa to European Union election observers who were part of the team that supervised the regional elections in November, forcing them to leave the country this weekend, a source connected to the matter told Reuters.
Observers arrived in October for regional elections that took place on 21 November. The idea of members of the delegation was to stay in the country until December 13th.
“There was no extension of their stay, so they must leave this weekend,” said the source, who declined to be identified as he was not authorized to speak officially. She did not specify the reasons for not extending the visas.
The last regional elections were praised for the presence of the opposition and international observers. In November, however, dictator Nicolas Maduro even called these observers “spies” after the group’s preliminary report pointed out that voting conditions were better than in previous elections but that some candidates were unfairly harmed. For Maduro, the group’s conclusion is an effort to tarnish a peaceful and democratic electoral process.
Venezuela’s Ministry of Communication and Information did not respond to the report’s requests for comment, as well as the electoral authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The only official spokesperson for the European mission is the head of the group, Isabel Santos, who left Venezuela at the end of November. The mission declined to comment on the denial of visa extensions, saying only that confirmation of the winning candidates had been carried out and that members of the group will leave Caracas by December 5th. The group says it will return to the country in early 2022 to present its final report.
The elections were a major victory for the ruling Socialist Party, which managed to elect 19 governors, while opposition politicians won in three states.
The only dispute to be decided is the government of the state of Barinas, stronghold of Maduro’s PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). The Supreme Court this week ordered a new vote and suspended opposition candidate Freddy Superlano from the new election. He appeared in the poll in a close dispute against Argenis Chávez, brother of Hugo Chávez, who ran the country from 1999 to 2013.
The court pointed to Superlano’s ineligibility for “administrative and criminal inquiries” as he is the target of corruption charges. A new election has been scheduled for January 9th. The state has been ruled by Chávez’s family since 1998, with the election of his father, Hugo de los Reyes Chávez. He held power until 2008 and was succeeded by Adán, one of the former president’s brothers and now Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba.
Argenis, who disputed the election with Superlano, has been the head of the regional Executive since 2017. On Tuesday he resigned from the position and said he would not seek re-election in January.
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