The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) approved by consensus on Friday a resolution demanding that Venezuelan authorities publish “expeditiously” the minutes of the July 28 elections in that country.
The non-binding text was submitted on behalf of the United States and co-sponsors Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Suriname and Uruguay.
The resolution calls on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to “promptly publish the minutes with the results of the presidential election vote at the level of each polling station” and “respect the fundamental principle of popular sovereignty through an impartial verification of the results that guarantees the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the electoral process.”
Their call joins those made on Friday by the European Union, including Spain, and 22 other countries, in favor of the “immediate publication of all the original minutes” of the elections and the “impartial” and “independent” verification of the results of those elections, in which according to the CNE President Nicolás Maduro beat the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
The OAS resolution also highlights the importance of “protecting and preserving all equipment used in the electoral process, including all printed minutes and results, in order to safeguard the entire chain of custody” of said process.
It also calls for the protection of diplomatic facilities and personnel residing in Venezuelan territory, including persons seeking asylum in such facilities.
It also calls on the interested parties to “refrain from any conduct that could compromise the construction of a peaceful solution to this crisis, respecting the sovereign will of the Venezuelan electorate.”
The Permanent Council has called for respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms to be “an absolute priority and an obligation for Venezuela,” especially the right to peaceful assembly and the full exercise of civil and political rights without reprisals, the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or imprisonment, and the right to a fair trial.
“Let us show the people of Venezuela that they are not alone,” said the United States ambassador to the OAS, Francisco Mora, at the beginning of the session.
On July 31, another resolution demanding the immediate dissemination of the electoral records failed in the Pan-American organization based in Washington.
That first text had 17 votes in favor, none against, 11 abstentions and five absences, so it did not achieve the absolute majority necessary to pass.
The phrase calling for “a comprehensive verification of the results in the presence of independent observer organisations to ensure the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the results” was broken off in the vote on that occasion. It was not included in the approved text now.
Washington / EFE
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2024-08-19 07:50:14
