UNASUR: Venezuela Elections, 'Most Transparent We've Observed'
UNASUR: Venezuela Elections, 'Most Transparent We've Observed'
Published 7 December 2015 (4 hours 3 minutes ago)
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The Dec. 6 legislative elections in Venezuela were the most transparent and efficient that the Union of South American Nations has ever observed since it began sending monitors to electoral processes in the region in 2011, said the bloc’s secretary-general, Ernesto Samper, at a press conference Monday.
“Today, Venezuela continues to be a strong democracy and that has been proven by the highly efficient, accurate and most transparent the way the elections were carried out,” Samper said. He also praised the democratic will expressed by President Nicolas Maduro, who, “as he promised before the elections, immediately recognized the opposition’s victory.”
The opposition gained a majority in the National Assembly after 17 years of a socialist PSUV party majority, which relentlessly worked in favor of the most vulnerable sectors of society, efficiently reducing extreme poverty, expanding social programs, and narrowing the inequality gap.
Venezuela today has one of the most reliable and trustworthy electoral systems in the region, Samper reiterated, although he accepted there were difficulties that will likely be overcome in future electoral processes.
Samper strongly criticized the presence of former presidents Andres Pastrana of Colombia, Laura Chinchilla of Costa Rica and Jorge Quiroga of Bolivia, among others.
“Their unlawful interference could have disrupted the peaceful elections in Venezuela, but fortunately it didn’t,” Samper said, as he explained that in Venezuela the electoral law calls for polling stations to remain open until everybody waiting in line to vote has cast their ballot.
More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/UNASUR-Venezuela-Elections-Most-Transparent-Weve-Observed-20151207-0016.html
