A The consultation, sponsored by Venezuela’s ruling parliament, will propose to the electoral authority 27 possible dates for this year’s presidential electionsreported the President of Parliament on Wednesday, who questioned the bias of a possible European observation mission.
He document with the proposals, signed in an act by political leaders and representatives of civil society, It will be handed over to the National Electoral Council (CNE) this Friday.the only organization authorized to hold elections and which is accused of serving Chavismo.
“We have 27 appointments and the National Electoral Council will hold the technical discussions to convene and prepare the election program.” told reporters Jorge Rodríguez, President of the Parliament and of this trial, which began on February 5th.
Rodríguez is leading the government delegation in the dialogue process with the opposition, which involves Norway and which agreed last October in Barbados to hold elections in the second half of the year under the observation of the European Union and other international actors.
“This agreement is the evolution of the Barbados Agreement and replaces it,” the MP said. “All the proposals are there: they want the elections to take place on May 1st, we set them for May 1st, they want them to take place on December 8th, we set them for December 8th and that the National Electoral Council will decide on this.”
Rodríguez explained that 500 proposals were processed in 150 meetingsinclude guarantees in the electoral process and the updating of the electoral roll.
Possible European observation mission
With regard to the European Union, he said that every invited actor was obliged to be “impartial”. “You cannot be attentive and at the same time think that you can be so offensive and rude by interfering in the internal affairs of the country.”
The EU – which already observed the last elections for mayors and governors in 2021 – has imposed individual sanctions on senior Chavismo leadersincluding Elvis Amoroso, head of the electoral authority and former comptroller who was responsible for the disqualification of opposition candidates such as María Corina Machado.
The consultations would continue to address other issues such as the 2025 regional elections, Rodríguez said. having regard to the mechanism convened in the first instance in response to the decision of the United States to reinstate the sanctions suspended to Barbados following the ratification of the disqualification against Machado. AFP