Caracas. The electoral mission of the European Union in Venezuela, the first in 15 years, began to deploy its observers yesterday, when the campaign for the November 21 regional elections officially began.
“This mission is independent, impartial, neutral,” said the head of the mission, the Portuguese MEP Isabel Santos, who accompanied the departure of some 40 observers from Caracas to other states in the country.
“We are going to observe the entire process, from the campaign to the moment of voting; then the recount, complaints if there are any, and then we produce a report.”
The observers will be in 23 of the 24 states of the country: only Amazonas (south) will not be covered by the mission before the elections. On November 18, 34 new “short-term” observers will join the mission, which in total will have more than 100 participants.
The socialist MEP made it clear that there are no tensions between Caracas and the EU, after the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), a former minister of the late former president Hugo Chávez, demanded an apology from the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, for declaring that the mission would give legitimacy to the elections.
The UN and the Carter Center will deploy small representations of “experts” to accompany these elections.
Some 70,000 candidates compete for governors, mayors and municipal positions.
