Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat, has said that publicly available voting records suggest Maduro was defeated in Venezuela’s presidential election.
Nicolás Maduro has launched a war of words against the European Union after the bloc questioned a decision by Venezuela’s top court to ratify Maduro’s widely disputed victory in July’s presidential poll.
Speaking on Tuesday in Caracas, Maduro’s flurry of insults was mostly directed against the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell.
“Josep Borrell supports the Palestinian holocaust, the massacre in Gaza. Josep Borrell is complicit in the massacre in Gaza. And now, he’s pointing his weapons at Venezuela,” Maduro said, despite Borrell being widely considered the EU’s firmest critic of Israel’s war in Gaza.
Maduro went on to claim that Borrell was also being “led astray” by the US, and instigating an “open war against Russia from Ukraine.”
It comes after a statement on behalf of the EU issued by Borrell on Saturday said that publicly available voting records – or “actas” – suggest that opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia “would appear to be the winner” of Venezuela’s presidential election “by a significant majority.”
Borrell also expressed concern about the “deepening political crisis in Venezuela” where supporters of the political opposition have taken to the streets to protest against Maduro’s claim to a third, six-year term as president.
The opposition is disputing authorities’ claims that Maduro narrowly won the July ballot with 51.2% of all votes, and has published evidence suggesting he was defeated by a margin of around 3.5 million votes.
But Venezuela’s highest court, which is mostly formed of Maduro loyalists, upheld his re-election last week. The court claimed voting tallies published online indicating Maduro lost by a landslide were forged.
The US and ten Latin American governments have gone as far as “categorically rejecting” the court’s decision.
‘Strong indications’ count doesn’t match authorities’ claims
The EU has questioned the court’s ruling and is calling on Venezuela’s electoral authority – the National Electoral Council (CNE), which is mostly formed of Maduro allies – to publish the full, verified breakdown of the results.
The CNE has so far failed to publish the breakdowns to counter the opposition’s claims that González Urrutia won by a landslide.
“Only complete and independently verifiable results will be accepted and recognised to ensure that the will of the Venezuelan people is respected,” the EU’s statement reads.
The EU’s spokesperson for foreign affairs, Peter Stano, said on Tuesday that “it’s not only the European Union that has very strong indications that the final count from the vote (…) is not really matching what the authorities have announced,” adding that a UN report also reaches the same conclusion.
He added that the EU’s foreign ministers will discuss their response to the political crisis in the country when they gather in Brussels on Thursday (19 August). Any declaration or action would require the unanimous backing of all 27 EU member states.
In July, Hungary had blocked an initial statement by the 27 countries denouncing “irregularities” in the presidential vote.
ADVERTISEMENT“Thursday will offer an opportunity for member states to exchange views on everything that has happened in Venezuela since the presidential elections,” Stano explained.
The bloc recently said calls for new sanctions were “premature” as long as the political crisis persisted.
Relations between the EU and Venezuela have frayed since the EU denounced Maduro’s 2018 re-election as unfree and unfair, prompting the bloc to introduce sanctions as part of international efforts to weaken Maduro’s grip on power.
