The General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) today proposed the creation of a group of experts to change the electoral system in Venezuela and allow elections to be held with the “minimum conditions for the Venezuelan population to freely express their will.”
That offer was announced by Brenda Santamaría, Section Chief of the Department for Electoral Cooperation and Observation, who reports to the General Secretariat of the OAS, whose leadership is held by Luis Almagro, one of the most critical international voices with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Santamaría proposed “three courses of action” to “clean up” the electoral system of Venezuela and get a “transparent and competitive”, which in his opinion should be convened by opposition leader Juan Guaidó, recognized as interim president of Venezuela for half a hundred of nations.
“The first (of those courses of action) we could start today.
We propose to form a group of electoral experts that works for the elaboration of a more detailed diagnosis that contains the weaknesses and critical points of the system to present the measures that allow to correct them “, said Santamaría.
Once indicated the alleged failures of the electoral system, the second initiative would be the creation of another entity composed of “electoral authorities of the region to share good practices and share advice during the preparation stages of the election,” he explained.
Finally, the plan of the OAS General Secretariat includes the deployment of an electoral observation mission to follow up the process “in all stages” with “long-term observers” in the 23 states of Venezuela and its capital district .
“Through these three projects, the OAS could generate the minimum conditions that guarantee that the Venezuelan population freely expresses its will and the results presented to the world are true,” said Santamaría.
Santamaría explained that, to begin this process, the General Secretariat wants the support of the majority of the 34 active member states of the OAS (Cuba belongs to the organization but has not participated in this forum since 1962).
For the moment, they have expressed their support for the proposal from the USA, Brazil, Ecuador, Argentina, Guatemala, Chile and Canada, while Nicaragua and San Cristóbal y Nieves, allies of Caracas, opposed it.
The balance may change because the Permanent Council of the OAS convened to deal with this issue is still in progress.
Maduro returned to take office on January 10 as a result of elections held in May and not recognized by the international community.
Guaidó declared himself interim president of Venezuela on January 23 and assured that he is committed to holding elections, but with changes to the electoral system. (EFEUSA) .-
