(Caracas) The electoral campaign for the regional and municipal ballot on November 21 in Venezuela opened on Thursday, as the deployment of the European Union electoral mission began, the first in fifteen years in the country.
“This mission is independent, impartial, neutral,” said the head of the mission, Portuguese MEP Isabel Santos, welcoming the departure of around forty observers from Caracas to other regions of the country.
“We will observe the whole process, electoral campaign, organization, voting, counting, complaints if there are any […] We will then produce a report, ”she added.
The “observers will not intervene” in the event of a problem, in accordance with the usual rules for European or UN observation missions, recalled Mr.me Santos.
The observers will settle in 23 of the 24 states of Venezuela (the exception being the Amazon). On November 18, 34 “short-term” observers will join the mission, which will include a total of around 100 members.
” I was very well received. There is nothing to say, everything is completely normal, ”she replied to the press, in the context of recent tensions between the EU and Caracas.
In early October, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE) Pedro Calzadilla, minister under the presidencies of Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) and Nicolas Maduro, demanded an apology from the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. The latter believed that it would be the mission that would “legitimize” the regional and municipal elections.
The Carter Foundation and the UN will also send small teams of “experts”.
Venezuela has often been reluctant to welcome election observers and the EU had unsuccessfully requested the presence of a mission for the legislative elections of December 2020. This election had been boycotted by the opposition and the government had won an overwhelming victory .
Posters, walking
The government of President Nicolas Maduro, which would like a lifting of international economic sanctions against his country, has been engaged since August in a dialogue with the opposition.
For their part, the main opposition parties have broken with their boycott strategy of the last few years – presidential in 2018 and legislative in 2020 – in particular to join the CNE.
Among the problems that observers will have to overcome: the pandemic, insecurity in a country with rampant crime and logistics with a recurring shortage of gasoline inside Venezuela.
“We are used to difficult conditions. We are not afraid, ”Lukasz Firmanty, a Polish observer leaving for Carabobo state (central north) told AFP. “We are well equipped and we have an agreement with the CNE which will help you with all logistical aspects”.
Some 70,000 candidates are vying for elected municipal positions, mayors, but above all state governors.
Posters, in favor of the candidates of power and the opposition, appeared in Caracas.
In Petaré, the largest slum in Venezuela, Carlos Ocariz, heavyweight of the opposition, began his campaign as candidate for governor of the state of Miranda with a “blue” march, the rallying color of the right.
Supportive of power, Pedro Briceño, social worker, 70, said he was “happy with these elections […] The opposition always talks about fraud but never provides proof ”.
Mayra Avendano, 24, lawyer was less enthusiastic: “I am not going to vote. I don’t want to legitimize something that is not legitimate ”.