Opposition rejects repeating Venezuelan elections

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Thursday rejected a proposal by Brazilian and Colombian presidents to call for a new presidential election in Venezuela following the contested results of last month’s election.

Machado made these comments shortly after Brazilian current president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said he would not recognizes Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential election in Venezuela, held last monthand that his counterpart could call a new election “if it has common sense.” US President Joe Biden also expressed his support for holding new elections.

Lula said Maduro still owes an explanation to Brazilians and the rest of the world.

Machado said in a virtual press conference with Argentine media that repeating the election would be “an insult to the Venezuelan people,” and asked that, if a second election were held and Maduro still does not accept the results, “are we going to a third?”

Brazil is by far the largest nation in South America and shares one of the largest land borders with Venezuela. Unlike many other nations that have already recognized Maduro or the opposition leader Edmundo González as the winner, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have taken a more neutral stance. by not recognizing or accepting when the Venezuelan electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner.

“Maduro still has six months left in his term. He is the president regardless of the elections. If he has common sense, he could call on the people of Venezuela, perhaps even call new elections, create an electoral committee and allow observers from around the world to monitor it,” Lula stressed in an interview with Radio T.