UN to Deploy Electoral Monitors to Venezuela Presidential Vote
(Bloomberg) -- The United Nations said it will deploy a team of four experts to monitor Venezuela’s elections days after the opposition declined to sign a deal to recognize the presidential vote’s results.
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The UN’s team will independently produce a confidential report for the Secretary General, which will include recommendations for future elections in Venezuela, the group said in a statement on Tuesday. The UN will join a limited team from the Carter Center as credible international monitors of Venezuela’s electoral process.
President Nicolás Maduro is seeking a third consecutive term in the July 28 vote after the government banned his biggest rival, María Corina Machado, from running. The government said in late May that it would bar EU monitors after the group declined to lift all sanctions on government officials.
Last week, Venezuela’s opposition refused to seal a pact proposed by Maduro to force candidates to recognize the results of the vote, raising tensions between the parties ahead of the vote. Machado’s replacement, Edmundo González, indicated he wouldn’t sign the agreement as the government had already violated an electoral accord by revoking the EU’s invitation to observe the vote.
The government has stepped up repression of political dissent in the days leading up to the official start of the campaign on July 4, arresting five opposition activists and journalists while barring mayors in provincial cities where González and Machado have held rallies.
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