In the wake of Venezuela’s highly contested presidential election, Canada is urging the country’s authorities to release detailed results of the vote, joining its voice to the international community.
“Canada, like many other allies and global democracies, has serious concerns about the elections in Venezuela,” Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said at a press briefing in Toronto on Monday.
The latter added that Canada “supports the democratic opposition” in Venezuela and condemns the authoritarian regime which has become “increasingly severe” in recent years.
Many nations have denounced the fact that the announced result does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people, afflicted by a major economic and humanitarian crisis for more than a decade.
Despite the polls predicting the victory of candidate Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, the National Electoral Council announced, Sunday evening, the re-election of the outgoing president, Nicolas Maduro, heir to Hugo Chavez. This is his third term at the head of the country.
Polls gave a maximum of 30% for Mr Maduro and between 50 and 70% for the opposition, which also claimed victory on Sunday evening.
“I want Venezuela’s democrats to know that Canada stands with them and recognizes that they are fighting hard for democracy and freedom, and that they deserve it just as much as the rest of us,” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
Conservative Party of Canada Leader Pierre Poilievre also denounced the outcome of Monday’s vote. “Yesterday, the people of Venezuela voted to free their country from socialist oppression. Yet Venezuelan communist dictator Nicolás Maduro refused to accept the will of the people and fabricated a false result that will keep his tyrannical regime in power,” he said in a statement.
Lack of transparency
In a joint statement released Monday, nine Latin American countries called for a “comprehensive review with the presence of independent electoral observers” and a meeting of members of the Organization of American States (OAS).
Venezuelan authorities delayed releasing results from each of the country’s 30,000 polling stations on Sunday, hampering attempts to verify the results.
Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly also condemned the elections, asking the Venezuelan authorities “to respect the will of the population and to guarantee the transparency of the elections by publishing the detailed results of all polling stations.”
“The Venezuelan people demonstrated their commitment to restoring democracy in their country by voting peacefully and in large numbers,” she wrote on her X page.
The White House also said Monday that it wanted Venezuelan officials to release a full, detailed vote count.
With Agence France-Presse