The question of the election of the President of Venezuela: MEPs recognise Edmundo González as President

BRUSSELS - The EU should do everything possible to ensure that Edmundo González Urrutia, the legitimate and democratically elected President of Venezuela, can take office on 10 January 2025.

In a resolution adopted on Thursday 19 September with 309 votes in favour, 201 against and 12 abstentions, the Parliament "strongly condemns and fully rejects the electoral fraud staged by the regime-controlled National Electoral Council, which refused to publish the official results". MEPs recognised Edmundo González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected President of the country and María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela. They also strongly condemn the issuing of an arrest warrant for Mr González by the Venezuelan Government.

MEPs stress that, despite repeated calls from the international community, the Venezuelan regime is not respecting the 2023 Barbados Agreement between the Maduro government and the opposition in relation to the presidential elections, making free and fair elections impossible.

MEPs note that the reports of international election observation missions clearly state that the Venezuelan presidential elections of 28 July 2024 did not meet international standards of electoral integrity. They also condemn in the strongest possible terms the killings, harassment, violations and arrests of the democratic opposition, the Venezuelan people and civil society, and call for an end to systematic human rights violations.

Parliament urges the EU to renew sanctions against members of the National Electoral Council. It calls for the extension of the regime's sanctions and for the extension of their scope to include the application of targeted sanctions through the EU's global human rights sanctions regime against Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle.

MEPs welcome the role played by the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico and urge regional actors and the international community to exert maximum pressure on the Maduro regime and its inner circle to accept the democratic will of the Venezuelan people and recognise Edmund González Urrutia as the legitimate and democratically elected President. If this does not happen, Parliament warns that there will be a renewed migratory exodus to other countries in the region, similar to that which has led to the flight of almost eight million Venezuelans from the country in recent years.

europarl.europa.eu/ gnews.cz-JaV

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