Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares demanded that Venezuela “immediately” publish the results of the July elections under threat of sanctions against Caracas.
On Thursday, 22 August, the Supreme Court of Venezuela confirmed the official results of the 28 July elections, in which President Nicolás Maduro allegedly won a majority of votes.
However, a number of international organisations, including the Carter Foundation and several independent election observers, questioned the legitimacy and transparency of the elections. Albares did not rule out the possibility that the EU and Spain could impose sanctions against the Maduro administration.
We are not here to be political scientists and characterise, we are here to achieve objectives.
Last week, EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrell stated that the bloc would not recognise Maduro’s victory until there was reliable data on the results to prove it.
As long as we do not see a verifiable result, we will not recognise it.
The opposition candidate in Venezuela, Edmundo González Urrutia, was summoned to testify before the prosecutor’s office this Monday. However, he posted on his social media that the process was deprived of all democratic guarantees.
Urrutia was summoned to the Venezuelan prosecutor’s office to investigate him for alleged “conspiracy” and other offences related to allegations of electoral fraud. Albares stressed that Spain also did not recognise the Venezuelan opposition’s victory.
This is not a contest to see who (the PSOE or the PP) looks better. Therefore, we have to be very responsible in what we do. And what we have to think about is that it is not about making forceful statements, but effective statements, effective movements, and of course, we are not going to recognise an electoral result that is not verified.
