Madrid. As the Lower House did last week, the Spanish Senate on Wednesday asked its government to recognize Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the July 28 presidential election against Nicolás Maduro.
The Senate “has approved the motion (…) to recognize Edmundo González Urrutia as the new President of Venezuela and to adopt measures supporting the transfer of powers,” the Upper House announced on the social network X.
The conservative Popular Party (PP), the main opposition force to the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez, is the driving force behind the measure and has an absolute majority in the Senate, so its approval was predictable.
The vote ended with 149 votes in favor, 102 against and 2 abstentions, and the session was attended by the Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo López.
“Let us not turn our backs on the people of Venezuela, who are knocking at our door. Let us rise to the occasion and act with dignity,” demanded Íñigo Fernández García, a senator for the PP, during his speech.
On September 11, it was the Congress of Deputies that approved a similar resolution. These motions are symbolic and do not oblige Pedro Sánchez to take the step they demand.
In line with the European position, Madrid has so far demanded that the electoral records of the elections be made public, but without recognising González Urrutia, who arrived in Spain on 8 September to request asylum.
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– 2024-09-21 13:57:23