Venezuela Rejects European Double Standards on Elections

Just a day after the parliamentary elections were held in Venezuela, several European countries and their right-wing representatives have failed to recognize the triumph of the governing coalition that won most seats in the National Assembly in the country's most expected elections in several years.

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"Some politicians of the European right are today unleashing a rampage against Venezuela, especially from Germany. Yesterday there were parliamentary elections in Romania. The participation was the same as in Venezuela. No sanctions, no boycott, with fuel (...), a little bit of coherence", said the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs on Twitter this Monday. Arreaza's statements alluded to the comments of Maria Adebahr, the spokeswoman of the German Foreign Ministry, who has alleged that the elections in Venezuela were "neither free nor fair." 

Furthermore, the high representative for Foreign Affairs of the Community block, Josep Borrell, has not acknowledged the result of the parliamentary elections in the Bolivarian country.

Borrell said this same Monday that "the lack of respect for political pluralism and the disqualification and persecution of opposition leaders does not allow the European Union (EU) to recognize the electoral process as credible, inclusive or transparent and its results as representative of the will of the Venezuelan people.

Confronted with this situation, the Vice-Minister for Europe of the Ministry of the Popular Power for Foreign Affairs of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Iván Gil, has questioned Borrell's declarations. "For the EU, it is worrying that in Venezuela, amid a blockade and under constant sabotage, 31 percent participate, but in Romania, a member country of the EU, yesterday 31 percent voted in Parliament. Are those valid, Mr. Josep Borrell?" he tweeted.

Other countries such as the U.S., Canada, and those making up the self-named Lima Group have joined Europe's refusal to recognize Venezuela's elections' legitimacy. 

Despite calls for boycott, on Sunday, Venezuelans stood in long lines at polls to elect 277 deputies to Parliament for the 2021-2026 period from a total of 14,400 candidates, mostly from the opposition.

The head of the Russian Federation's observer delegation for the electoral process in the Bolivarian country, Igor Ananskij, described it as "expected" that the ruling party obtained a majority of seats, stressing the legitimacy of the new Assembly.