Mexico does not recognize Venezuelan election

The Mexican government informed that the results of the latest Venezuelan election in which Nicolás Maduro , former president of Venezuela , was re-elected , will not be recognized by the Mexican administration. Mexican ambassador in Venezuela, Eréndira Paz , was summoned for consulting.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) announced that Mexico does not recognize the legitimacy of the voting poll from Venezuela since it didn’t meet the international standards for a fair and transparent democratic electoral process.

The Foreign Ministry also summoned Venezuelan ambassador María Lourdes Urbaneja Durant to express the government’s stance.

In a video message, chancellor Luis Videgaray stated that the electoral process in Venezuela lacked the most elemental standards and guarantees to ensure a fair process, in which the will of the people determined who the next Venezuelan president would be.

In Buenos Aires, Argentina , after the G20 summit , Videgaray Caso expressed that Mexico would take diplomatic and financial measures as a sign of protest.

Among the actions adopted by President Enrique Peña Nieto ’s administration, the Foreign Ministry stated that the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) issued an alert to Mexican financial and banking sectors about the risk in which they could incur if their financial operations in Venezuela weren’t approved by the National Assembly .

The latter includes reciprocal payment and credit agreements for foreign operations (including military property).

In addition, the SHCP is to reduce cultural and bilateral cooperation activities, including military; as well as the suspension, until further notice, of high profile visits to the South American Nation.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the Mexican Government will closely follow the developments of Venezuela, and will seek to contribute to the restoration of democratic institutionalization, the respect of human rights, and the full observance of the rule of law in the country, both at a bilateral and multilateral level.

Election day

Last Sunday, at an election distinguished for an all-time high level of abstention by voters (estimated between 54% and 70% ), and unrecognized by most of the countries in the region, the President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, achieved reelection.

Tibisay Lucena

, head of the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela , announced that the chief of State was reelected with 5,823,728 votes . His main adversary, Henri Falcón , won 1,820,552 votes ; candidate Javier Bertucci won 925,042 , and Reinaldo Quijada, 34,614 .

She informed that the electoral participation was of 46% ; however, only a few hours before, sources from the CNE said that the popular participation on election day was of barely 32.3% at 18:00, local time, when polls were supposed to close.

The opposition group, Frente Amplio (Broad Front) , informed that, according to their data, the affluence at the polls was of less than 30% . During the day, which was unusually calm, numerous images of empty voting polls were spread, mainly in neighborhoods known to be at odds with the government. The Chavist zones showed more affluence; however, two hours before the polls closed, there were reports of people standing in long lines for polling places, which generated speculations about fraud and hauling .

In this regard, Delcy Rodríguez , head of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC) of Venezuela, ensured that the abstention fostered by the Coalition for Democratic Unity (MUD) was defeated in the process.

“The greatest loser today was abstentionism. We predicted that this voting day would go down in history as an anti-imperialist process. Those who still don’t understand the Venezuelan electoral process were defeated,” Rodríguez declared at a press conference.

She also pointed out that the election day had been “extraordinary,” that the process took place “effectively and thoroughly,” and ensured that there had been a “massive participation,” in spite of the opposition’s “threats and blackmails.”

On the night following the election, Maduro thanked the people for his reelection.

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