Election observers from the EU terminate their mission in Venezuela without mentioning their expulsion

, Dec 4 () –

The Electoral Observation Mission of the European Union in Venezuela has reported this Saturday that they will conclude their stay in the Caribbean country on Sunday in a brief statement in which it does not mention that the Venezuelan Government has denied the renewal of their visas. members.

“The EU Electoral Observation Mission for the regional and local elections of November 21, 2021 concludes its stay in Venezuela tomorrow (Sunday), December 5,” explains the mission.

The statement recalls that the mission presented a statement to the media on November 23 with the preliminary findings and conclusions, expresses its gratitude to the National Electoral Council (CNE) and recalls that it will make public its final report with recommendations during a future visit. from the head of the mission, the Portuguese MEP Isabel Santos in late January or early February 2022.

The group had planned to be in the country until December 13, according to a schedule previously agreed with the CNE and authorized by the Maduro government.

The group, of more than a hundred people, expected to remain in Venezuela until December 13. According to sources cited by the Bloomberg agency, the Venezuelan authorities have refused to extend the visas and both the Foreign Ministry and the Venezuelan CNE have asked for the observers to leave.

In the preliminary examination, the mission already revealed that, despite the improvements, certain irregularities cast doubt on the transparency of the process. Specifically, EU observers questioned the lack of judicial independence, the inequality between ruling party candidates and opponents, and the low level of transparency, among other issues.

The Government of Nicolás Maduro has always understood any criticism of internal electoral processes as interference and, in fact, already before the arrival of the mission, it made it clear that the EU report would not serve in any case to legitimize the results that it could publish. the Venezuelan CNE.

The president went further on Sunday and accused the EU observers of being “spies”. “They tried to stain the impeccable electoral process of Venezuela and they could not, a delegation of spies,” proclaimed Maduro.