The European Union will not recognise the outcome of Venezuela’s presidential election without full disclosure of the official vote results, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Sunday.
“Any attempt to delay the full publication of the official voting results will only cast further doubt on the credibility of the officially published results,” Stano said in a statement.
After the July 28 elections, Venezuela’s electoral authority declared the authoritarian incumbent President Nicolás Maduro, in power since 2013, the winner.
However, the electoral authority has not yet published the detailed results of the individual constituencies due to allegations of election fraud.
The opposition accuses the government of electoral fraud and claims victory for its candidate, Edmundo González.
Opposition groups have said their own detailed voting results from more than 80% of Venezuela’s constituencies showed González receiving 67% of the vote and Maduro only 30%.
Protests took place in Venezuela and beyond following the election results. On Saturday, large numbers of people again took to the streets in the capital Caracas to protest against Maduro.
The EU calls on the Venezuelan authorities to respect freedom of expression, assembly and human rights, Stano said, adding that it expressed “serious concern about the increasing number of arbitrary arrests and the continued intimidation of the opposition.”
Many foreign governments refused to recognize Maduro’s re-election in 2018. Juan Guaidó, then president of the parliament, declared himself interim president.
The US, Germany and other countries recognized Guaidó, but Maduro managed to retain the support of powerful groups in Venezuela, including the military.
The armed forces have reaffirmed their loyalty to Maduro.
