Almagro calls for the recognition of the opposition’s records and for Maduro to accept his defeat

The Secretary General of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, called on Tuesday for the recognition of the electoral records held by the Venezuelan opposition and for Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to acknowledge defeat and make way for “the return of democracy” in the country.

In a statement, the General Secretariat indicated that “the CNE (National Electoral Council) has not yet been able to present the records by which it would have won, which at this point would be laughable and pathetic if it were not tragic.”

In Almagro’s opinion, “it is imperative” that Maduro accept the minutes held by the opposition led by Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado and “consequently accept her electoral defeat and pave the way for a return to democracy in Venezuela.”

“Failure to do so would require new elections” with the presence of electoral observers from the European Union and the OAS, the statement said.

Almagro also called for the creation of a new CNE to reduce the institutional irregularities that, in his opinion, plagued the electoral process that culminated in last Sunday’s elections, the result of which has been questioned by several countries due to the lack of details about the vote count.

Venezuela’s CNE declared Maduro’s victory with 51.20% of the votes compared to 44.20% for opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, with 80% of the votes counted and without disaggregating the results.

The anti-Chavez opposition claims to have in its possession the records issued in the electoral process and has enabled a search engine to show them to the public.

Machado assured that the majority opposition managed to obtain 73% of the votes issued in the presidential elections, which gave -he asserted- the victory to González Urrutia, with an “overwhelming” difference, contrary to what was announced by the CNE.

“The complete manual for fraudulent handling of election results was applied in Venezuela on Sunday night, in many cases in a very rudimentary manner,” Almagro lamented.