SANTO DOMINGO.- Former President Leonel Fernández arrived in the country tonight from Caracas after participating as an observer in the Venezuelan presidential elections held on Sunday.
The former president arrived on a private flight at El Higüero Airport, Dr. Joaquín Balaguer, along with the entourage that accompanied him.
Fernández described the situation in Venezuela as tense and worrying, as days have passed since the contest was held and the results have still not been accepted by all participants in the process.
“Everything went smoothly, but tension has only just arisen when the Council has given its results and the opposition says that they do not correspond to what they believe they should be,” he said.
In this regard, he called for greater understanding between the parties and for the situation to be overcome as soon as possible.
He said that his work as an observer of the Venezuelan elections concluded with the presentation of a report and that they are now in the post-electoral stage, which would require some type of political mediation for the dialogue to be sustained, which he said is in a preliminary phase and is up to the Venezuelans at this time.
Leonel Fernández said that during his work he spoke with President Nicolás Maduro and with the opposition candidates, except for Enrique Márquez, who did not arrive early for the meeting.
He added that there was massive participation by Venezuelans in the electoral process.
In their recommendations issued in a joint statement, Fernandez and former Colombian President Ernesto Samper urged Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) to guarantee the transparency of last Sunday’s elections by publishing the minutes of the vote count.
They proposed “emphasizing the value of maintaining peace and avoiding all forms of violence that cause death, destruction, destabilization and pain.”
