Lobby William Hague for the British Government to Recognise Venezuela's Electio

Dear Rt Hon William Hague MP, We write to call on the British government to recognise the outcome of the Venezuelan Presidential election held on 14 April.  As you are aware, Nicolas Maduro has been officially declared the winner of Venezuela's Presidential election with 50.75% to 48.98%. Mr Maduro received the second highest ever popular vote for a president in Venezuela and had a lead of 262,000 votes. Turnout was high at 78.71% This has been verified as the result of a free and fair election by numerous international observers, including from the Union of South American Nations. Furthermore, the Venezuelan National Electoral Council automatically audits 54% of all votes cast in each election by checking the electronic votes against the paper receipt each voter receives. This is known as the Citizens Audit and involves witnesses from all the parties and members of the public at each polling station meaning the results were veried by witnesses from opposition representatives that were present, and the results were transmitted in real time and made known quickly. Furthermore an audit of over half the votes is many times higher than statistically necessary to ensure the accuracy of the vote. In total 15 audits have taken place for this election, all witnessed by representatives of the different parties involved, including those of the opposition coalition.   For these reasons almost every government of Latin America and the important regional bodies Mercosur and UNASUR have also called for its results to be respected.   For your information, the French and Portguese governments have issued statements respecting the results, and the Spanish Government has recently issued the following statement,  "As all constitutional and legal procedures have been carried out, the Government of Spain respects the proclamation by the National Electoral Council of Nicolas Maduro Moros as the elected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela."  "The Government of Spain expresses its hope that within the framework of the Constitution, all political figures will act with responsibility and respect for the institutions."    Unfortunately, Henrique Capriles, the losing candidate, has refused to accept the results. He initially called his supporters onto the streets, rather than challenging the result through the institutional options available. This was quickly followed by violence leading to the death of at least seven pro-government supporters, attacks on the houses of the families of prominent politicians and of the head of the electoral council, on local headquarters of Nicolas Maduro's political party, health clinics and other social services built by the government.   International recognition of the results, including from yourself, will undoubtedly help to stabilise the situation in the country, uphold democracy and the rule of law.

Lobby the British Government to Respect the Venezuelan Election Results