“To suggest ignoring what happened on July 28 is, for me, a lack of respect for Venezuelans who have given everything (…) popular sovereignty is respected”Machado said in a virtual conference with Chilean and Argentine media, after being asked about the statements of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The Brazilian socialist suggested that Maduro could call new elections to clear up doubts about the results that allowed him to be re-elected for a third six-year term.
His Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petroagreed with what Lula said, as did Joe Biden, who also supported the proposal.
In light of this, Machado assured that the elections have already “taken place”. “Venezuelan society expressed itself in very adverse conditions where there was fraud and yet we still managed to win.”
Although Maduro did not comment on Lula’s proposal, on July 31, three days after his proclamation, he ruled out repeating the elections.
Lula’s statements in which he suggested repeating the elections in Venezuela
Faced with the crisis situation in Venezuela, the Brazilian president-elect: “Maduro still has six months in office. If he has common sense he could try to appeal to the people of Venezuela, perhaps even call for new elections, establish criteria for the participation of all candidates, create a supra-party electoral committee so that everyone can participate and let everyone participate observers from around the world“, explained the president of Brazil.
Another solution proposed by the Brazilian leader was the formation of a “coalition government” made up of the opposition. Regarding the question of who won the elections, Lula said: “I cannot say that the opposition won because I do not have the data, and much less can I say that Maduro won because I do not have the data.”
Together with the governments of Colombia and MexicoBrazil is trying to open dialogue between the opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, and Maduro, who was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
Source: Ambito
