Sad day for democracy, says Borrell as Venezuela's Gonzalez seeks political asylum in Spain

Brussels, Sep 8 (IANS) Josep Borrell, the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs, on Sunday expressed his disappointment over Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez seeking exile in Spain.

"Today is a sad day for democracy in Venezuela. Faced with repression, political persecution, and direct threats to his safety and freedom, after being given hospitality at the residence of the Netherlands in Caracas until September 5th, political leader and presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez has had to request political asylum and accept the protection offered by Spain," said Borrell in a statement issued by the European External Action Service (EEAS).

Citing publicly available copies of the electoral records (actas), the EU High Representative stated that Gonzalez appears to be the winner of the July 28 Venezuelan presidential elections "by a large majority".

"In a democracy, no political leader should be forced to seek asylum in another country. The EU insists that the Venezuelan authorities end repression, arbitrary arrests and harassment against members of the opposition and civil society, as well as release all political prisoners. The EU will continue to support the Venezuelan people in their democratic aspirations," mentioned Borrell.

After losing the July 28 presidential elections, Gonzalez and another opposition presidential candidate Maria Corina Machado, refused to recognise Nicolas Maduro's win and claimed the result was fraught with irregularities.

Maduro received 5,150,092 valid votes in the elections, representing 51.2 per cent of the votes, according to Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) which detailed that Gonzalez received 4,445,978 votes, or 44.2 per cent of the total votes.

Earlier this week, a Venezuelan court had issued an arrest warrant for the country's former opposition presidential candidate for ignoring three summons to appear before prosecutors investigating him.

Gonzalez requested political asylum in Spain and several reports indicated that he will arrive in the country on a Spanish Air Force plane late Sunday.

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