EU warns of “a serious crisis” in Venezuela if results are not verified

The High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, once again called for the publication of Venezuela’s electoral records and warned that, if Nicolás Maduro insists on saying that he won without being able to verify it, this country “could enter into a serious crisis.”

“If Maduro insists on saying that he has won and does not want to understand that, for the international community, without verification there is no acceptance of results, Venezuela could enter into a serious crisis. We are all trying to prevent this from happening,” Borrell said on Monday.

The head of European diplomacy appeared before the media at the Menéndez Pelayo International University in Santander (north), where this week he is leading the course ‘Quo Vadis Europa?’.

Borrell sees it “clearly” that Maduro “refuses to show the minutes.” “He should have done so already, he has had time,” he added, and insisted that “if there is no verification of the results, the results cannot be accepted.”

Opinion on Maduro’s reaction

“I know that Maduro has spoken very kind words to me, it is not the first time, but I have to insist on the same thing: If the results cannot be verified, they cannot be accepted and, for the moment, they are not verifiable. Well, more accurately, they are verifiable through the information provided by the opposition,” he said.

Following the presidential elections on July 28, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared victory to the current president, Nicolás Maduro, with 51.95% of the votes, compared to 43.18% of the votes obtained by the majority opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia.

But the opposition does not recognise the results and published a copy of 81% of the minutes it collected during the election day that would give it the victory.

Criticism of sarcasm

Borrell also described Maduro’s appeal to the Venezuelan Supreme Court to “defend him” as “the height of sarcasm.” “I don’t know what the Supreme Court will issue as a ruling because its function is not to count the election results,” he said.

The High Representative called for a wait-and-see approach in the coming days, although he added that there are more than 2,000 people detained and “the repression is intensifying,” and he trusts that the international community will maintain its demand for verification of the results.

Brussels / EFE