The governments of Colombia, Brazil and Mexico urged Venezuela’s election authority to publish the results of contested presidential elections that have caused regional tensions.
In a joint statement, the leftist governments urged the National Election Committee (CNE) in Caracas to “make the data brokered down by polling station public.”
The CNE said on Monday that President Nicolas Maduro had won the elections, but failed to reveal the tally sheets that would confirm this alleged victory.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said earlier this week that her coalition’s candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won the election with an overwhelming majority.
In an attempt to prove this claim, the opposition published a database that allegedly contained more than 80% of tally sheets that allegedly had been recovered by Gonzalez loyalists.
In their joint statement, Bogota, Brasilia and Mexico City stressed that “disputes about the electoral process must be settled through institutional channels.”
The three governments also said that “maintaining social peace and protecting human lives must be the priority concern at this time.”
The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through the impartial verification of the results.
Joint statement
In order to maintain the peace, the governments reiterated their “willingness to support the efforts of dialogue and the search for agreements that benefit the Venezuelan people.”
Unlike other regional leaders, Colombia’s government has yet to confirm the election victories claimed by both Maduro and Gonzalez.
The Carter Center, which was invited by the CNE to monitor the election, said on Tuesday that the elections “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.”