Brussels (Brussels Morning) The EU is to send election observers to Venezuela in November to monitor regional elections slated for 21 November.
The Venezuelan National Electoral Council invited the EU to send observers, with High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell indicating the bloc will accept the invitation, Reuters reported.
“An unprecedented electoral process will take place, with the concurrence of the majority of political forces for the first time in recent years, to elect more than 3,000 regional and municipal representatives in Venezuela“, Borrell observed.
The regional elections will take place following three years of opposition boycotts plus an unsuccessful attempt with US sanctions support to oust President Nicolás Maduro, the leader of the United Socialist Party, from office.
Elections unlikely to threaten Maduro
The elections are not expected to jeopardise Maduro’s hold on power, which he has managed to hold onto despite Venezuela’s spectacular economic collapse and Washington’s sanctions aimed at driving him from office.
According to Borrell’s announcement, the EU is to send 11 experts to monitort the elections. They should arrive in Caracas next month and will be joined by up to 62 long-term observers at the end of October, who will proceed to take up monitoring positions in various regions of the country.
Come election day, the team will be strengthened by an additional 34 short-term observers from the EU and 20 recruited locally. The team will remain in the country until the electoral process is wrapped up, the EU stated.
The team will issue a preliminary statement on the overall election process, hold a press conference in the capital after the elections and at the conclusion of the electoral process it will prepare a final report that includes recommendations for improving future elections.