European Union rejects Venezuelan election certification

The European Union’s top diplomat said Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has still “not provided the necessary public evidence” to prove he was the winner of July’s elections, days after the country’s Supreme Court backed the government’s disputed claims of victory.

The bloc joined a slate of other Latin American countries and the United States in rejecting the Venezuelan high court’s certification.

Authorities repeated calls for Mr Maduro to release the election’s official tally sheets, considered the one verifiable vote count in Venezuela as they are almost impossible to replicate.

“Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognised,” Josep Borrell, the high representative of the EU, said in a statement.

Mr Borrell’s comments came as the leaders of Brazil and Colombia also demanded the release of the tallies, saying on Saturday the “credibility of the electoral process can only be restored through the transparent publication of disaggregated and verifiable data”.

The joint statement from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro did not go as far as to reject the court certification.

Many had been waiting to see how the two leftist leaders would respond to the court because both are close allies of Mr Maduro and have been working to facilitate talks with both sides.

Mr Maduro claims that he won the presidential vote, but so far has refused to release the tallies. Meanwhile, the main opposition coalition has accused Mr Maduro of trying to steal the vote.

Opposition volunteers managed to collect copies of voting tallies from 80% of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide that show former opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The Supreme Court and other government entities alleged those tallies were forged.

The Venezuelan government rejected Mr Borrell’s statements, calling them “interventionist”.

Its foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that the “continued disrespect” to Venezuela’s sovereignty by the EU could “considerably affect diplomatic, political and economic relations”.

Mr Lula and Mr Petro said they “take note” of the court’s ruling, but added they are still awaiting the release of the tallies.

The Brazilian and Colombian leaders also called on actors in Venezuela to “avoid resorting to acts of violence and repression” as security forces arrested more than 2,000 people and cracked down on demonstrations that erupted spontaneously throughout the country protesting the results.

But the two leaders did not directly accuse the Maduro government of carrying out the violence.

The arrests have again spread fear in a country that has seen other government crackdowns during previous times of political turmoil.

At the same time, key opposition figure Maria Corina Machado has since gone into hiding and the government said on Friday it will order Mr Gonzalez to provide sworn testimony in an ongoing investigation, claiming he was part of an effort to spread panic by contesting the results of the election.

Both Mr Lula and Mr Petro have previously been criticized for what some say have been lenient policies towards Mr Maduro’s government, but their tone has grown sterner in recent months, especially in the wake of the election fallout.

Their two countries are neighbours to Venezuela and their governments were to witness agreements struck between Mr Maduro and the opposition that aimed to chart the path to free and fair elections, which the opposition and other observers accused Mr Maduro of violating.

The two leaders reiterated their willingness to facilitate dialogue between the government and the opposition.

“The political normalisation of Venezuela requires the recognition that there is no lasting alternative to peaceful dialogue and democratic coexistence,” the statement read.