On June 20, at the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, eight presidential candidates signed the “Agreement for the Recognition of the Results of the Presidential Election of July 28, 2024”. The document is intended to legitimize the upcoming presidential elections in the Caribbean country amid attacks and accusations of fraud from US mainstream media and US elected officials.
The document was signed by almost all the presidential candidates: Luis Eduardo Martínez with Democratic Action, Daniel Ceballos with AREPA, Antonio Ecarri with LAPIZ, Benjamín Rausseo with CONDE Party, José Brito Rodríguez with Venezuela First, Claudio Fermín with Solutions For Venezuela, Javier Bertucci with Hope For Change, and the current president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela and Patriotic Pole who is seeking reelection.
In the “Agreement of Recognition of the Results” the candidates pledge to respect the laws of the electoral process; to recognize the Electoral Power as the only legitimate electoral institution of the country; to respect the electoral results of July 28, 2024 in accordance with the Barbados and Caracas Agreements; to participate in the electoral process in a peaceful and respectful manner during and after the electoral campaign; to request the recognition of the elections by all countries of the world; to request the end of economic and political sanctions against the Venezuelan people; to guarantee the respect of human rights and the rule of law in force; to reject and denounce any type of financing from national and international illicit actions; and, finally, to promise fidelity to Venezuelan democracy and its institutional order.
Enrique Márquez (CENTRADOS) and Edmundo González (Democratic Unity Table) did not attend the event. González, who according to some polls is in second place, trailing Maduro by over 30 points, had already announced days before that he would not participate in the signing of the “Agreement for the Recognition of Results”, arguing that the “Barbados Agreement”, which established the basis for a political-electoral pact between the Chavista Government and the Venezuelan opposition, had not been honored.
González assumed the presidential candidacy after the disqualification of María Corina Machado’s and, consequently, Corina Yoris’ candidacies. María Corina Machado was most recently accused of receiving an illegal bribe of USD 3.2 million from the Disenso Foundation, a think tank of the Spanish extreme right-wing party VOX, to finance her electoral campaign. She was disqualified from running for public office due to persistent efforts to subvert Venezuelan democracy.
González is representing the right-wing alliance grouped around the Democratic Unity Table. His absence at the signing of the agreement may be interpreted as a rejection of the legitimacy of the upcoming elections or a way to justify a possible future electoral defeat of the Venezuelan right-wing opposition.
However, with the agreement signed by the vast majority of the presidential candidates, the upcoming elections in Venezuela are endorsed by most participating political parties. In addition, The Carter Center, one of the world’s most recognized institutions that monitors various electoral processes, announced that it will be present at the July 28 presidential elections in Venezuela. With these measures, the National Electoral Council expects to guarantee the transparency of the elections and to legitimize the electoral results.
