The Venezuelan government will not allow European Union election observers to work in the country during the 2024 presidential election, a senior lawmaker from the ruling party said on Thursday.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is expected to participate in next year’s race, while the opposition plans to hold primary elections in October this year to unify one candidate.
The opposition has long denounced what it calls undemocratic conditions for the elections, and many of its main candidates have already been barred by the government from holding public office.
“I tell you, Josep Borrell, there will be no European observation mission as long as we are the representatives of the Venezuelan state. They will not come,” said Jorge RodrÃguez, president of the National Assembly allied to the government, during the regular session of the Chamber this Thursday right , referring to the head of foreign policy of the European Union.
RodrÃguez accused the EU of violating an agreement signed with the Venezuelan government and the observers of being “representatives of an archaic and murderous imperial Europe”.
The EU Delegation in Caracas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An EU observation mission said after the 2021 regional elections in the South American country that electoral conditions had improved compared to previous votes, but that Venezuela needs to strengthen the separation of powers, in particular the independence of its judiciary.
Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was denounced by many in the international community as fraudulent, branded observers as spies.
Source: Terra
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