CARACAS – The electoral authority of Venezuela, aligned with the Nicolás Maduro regime, accused the United States this Thursday of trying to “discredit” the elections presidential elections on July 28, after rejecting the “false questions” of the Department of State American to the process.
“The electoral power (…) categorically rejects the insolent and false questions of the State Department,” the National Electoral Council (CNE) said in a statement.
Its objective is “to discredit one of the most solid institutions of the robust Venezuelan democracy,” added the electoral body, an institution controlled by Chavismo that has had the task of eliminating from the race the most important political adversaries of the dictator Nicolás Maduro who seeks to stay in power.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry also spoke along the same lines and said that the United States seeks to “not recognize” the process in which the dictator Nicolás Maduro aspires to re-election, as happened in 2018 when Washington called the process fraudulent and increased sanctions. .
The US rejects the blockade of opposition candidate
The US State Department condemned on Wednesday that the registration of some opposition candidates for the presidential elections in Venezuela had been prevented, following complaints of blocking opposition candidate Corina Yoris.
“The CNE’s acceptance of only those opposition candidates with whom Maduro and his representatives feel comfortable goes against competitive and inclusive elections that the Venezuelan people and the international community will consider legitimate,” the department spokesperson said. of State Matthew Miller in a statement.
Miller said that free and fair elections must be “allowed” and reiterated that otherwise there will be “consequences,” since the United States has announced that it could reverse the relaxation of sanctions announced at the end of the year in compensation for the agreements reached between the government and the opposition to hold the elections.
The reasons why the candidacy of Yoris, nominated by leader María Corina Machado after her political disqualification, was blocked, have not yet been explained.
The main alliance of parties, the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), ended up “provisionally” registering Edmundo González Urrutia at the last minute on Tuesday until the sole candidate was defined.
The opposition Manuel Rosales, an old rival of the late Hugo Chávez, also ran on the brink of the deadline to register candidacies.
He registered with his party Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT), which was also blocked until the last minute.
In total, 13 candidates ran, including opponents, Maduro, a former electoral director, and nine leaders who present themselves as anti-Chavistas, although they are branded by the traditional opposition as “scorpions,” a term used to name “collaborators” of the ruling party.
Source: AFP
