The European Parliament approved a resolution on Thursday recognizing former opposition presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the “legitimate and democratically elected” president of Venezuela and urging the European Union (EU) to recognize him.
The resolution, promoted by the European People’s Party, was approved with 309 votes in favour, 201 against and 12 abstentions.
The document “calls on the Union and its Member States to do everything possible to ensure that the legitimate and democratically elected president can take office on 10 January 2025, in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution.”
The resolution also recognizes María Corina Machado as the leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela, after being elected with more than 92% of the votes in the opposition presidential primaries.
González Urrutia, exiled in Spain, thanked the representatives of the European Parliament and said that “given the clarity of the results” in the presidential elections of July 28, “the democracies of the world must speak out.”
Almost two months before the election, the electoral authority that proclaimed Nicolás Maduro the winner for a third term, amid allegations of fraud by the opposition that claims the victory, has not released the detailed results, which has been questioned by dozens of countries that have not recognized Maduro as the winner.
González Urrutia, a 75-year-old retired ambassador, denounced on Wednesday that he signed under “coercion” a document that recognizes Maduro’s victory, in order to guarantee his departure from Venezuela, a version that the government urged him to deny under warning that it would release audio recordings of their conversations.
Venezuela’s pro-government parliament is expected to discuss a draft agreement on Thursday to reject what it considers a “gross interference” in Venezuela’s internal affairs by some MEPs in the European Parliament that it defines as “fascists.”
On Tuesday, the Foreign Policy Commission of the Venezuelan Parliament presented an agreement to urge Maduro to break diplomatic and commercial relations with Spain, after the Congress of Deputies decided to recognize González Urrutia as president-elect.
The Spanish Senate approved a motion on Wednesday urging President Pedro Sánchez to recognize González Urrutia.
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