The Venezuelan government announced on Wednesday 2 September that it had invited the United Nations and the European Union (EU) to send observers for the legislative elections on 6 December.

"I inform you that yesterday (Tuesday) we sent Antonio Guterres and Josep Borrell a letter concerning the general electoral guarantees agreed for the next legislative elections, (...) reiterating the invitation of the United Nations and the European Union to participate as observers, ”Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said on Twitter.

Comparto la carta that the enviamos has @antonioguterres is @JosepBorrellF.

Allí están descritas las amplias Garantías para las elecciones parlamentarias y the confirmación of the invitation to the #UN and the #EU para el acompañamiento y observación electoral in December.

pic.twitter.com/HqxTQ6h94N

- Jorge Arreaza M (@jaarreaza) September 2, 2020

This letter addressed to the UN Secretary General and the EU's Foreign Minister, subsequently posted on Twitter, proposes a "framework of guarantees" resulting from an "intense process of dialogue", which includes, between others, "adjustments" to the calendar to promote turnout and add the indelible ink that voters must dip their fingers in after voting, a system suppressed in the controversial 2018 presidential election when the head of state , Nicolas Maduro, had been re-elected.

"We have the honor to invite you as an international observer and accompanist of these elections, with the assurance that the guarantees granted will be considered as part of the measures aimed at ensuring confidence", adds the document.

This invitation was launched the day after the pardon granted by Nicolas Maduro to a hundred opponents, including deputies and collaborators of the leader of the opposition, Juan Guaido, to "promote national reconciliation", at three months of these legislative elections that the opposition calls to boycott.

Release of 110 opponents

However, some opposition leaders like two-time presidential candidate Henrique Capriles and parliamentarian Stalin Gonzalez are betting on participation.

"As long as they accept, as long as they give us time," said Henrique Capriles in reaction to the government's invitation to the EU and the UN, during a live broadcast on social media .

The ballot must ensure the renewal of Parliament, the only institution in the hands of the opposition.

The latter considers that its organization by the Chavist power is "fraudulent".

>> To see, our Reporters: "'We are dying of hunger': Maracaibo, symbolic city of Venezuela's descent into hell"

Josep Borrell had called in early August for a postponement of the legislative elections, considering at the time that "the conditions for a transparent, inclusive, free and fair electoral process" did not exist.

He considered the guarantees insufficient "for the European Union to deploy an election observation mission".

However, the European diplomat said on Twitter on Tuesday that "the release of a significant number of political prisoners and persecuted MPs in Venezuela is good news and a sine qua non for further progress in the organization of free elections. , inclusive and transparent ".

The excarcelación of a considerable number of presos políticos y diputados perseguidos in Venezuela is una buena noticia y una condición sine qua non para seguir avanzando en la organization de unas elecciones libre, inclusivas y transparentes.

- Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) September 1, 2020

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, expressed her satisfaction on Tuesday after the release of 110 opponents, 50 of whom are considered "political prisoners" by the local NGO Foro Penal.

However, the United States, among the sixty countries which recognize Juan Guaido as interim president, believe that the pardons made on Monday are only a "purely symbolic" gesture.

With AFP

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