On Sunday 25 August, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, continued to urge the Venezuelan authorities to “publish and independently verify the official voting records (actas)” issued by all polling stations during the presidential elections held end of July (see EUROPE 13465/4).
Mr Borrell stressed that the UN Panel of Experts had confirmed the reliability of a sample of the reviewed ‘actas’ published by the political opposition to Nicolas Maduro’s regime which, unlike the National Electoral Council (CNE), attributed victory to their candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.
While last Friday the Venezuelan Supreme Court confirmed the results of the CNE, which validated Nicolas Maduro’s 52% re-election, the High Representative emphasised that the CNE is the body legally and constitutionally responsible for the “transparent and detailed” publication of official electoral results in Venezuela. However, “only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognised to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected”, he insisted.
The CNE is claiming that data hacking has prevented it from publishing the ‘actas’ from all the polling stations.
Post-election demonstrations organised by the democratic opposition in Venezuela have left 27 people dead.
Mr Borrell, who is calling on the country’s authorities to allow citizens to demonstrate peacefully and to investigate the human rights violations that have been reported, continues to advocate a dialogue that includes all political forces to enable “the restoration of democracy” in Venezuela and overcome the humanitarian and socio-economic crises that persist in the Caribbean country. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)