Venezuela’s sham elections for the Essequibo was desperate, fraudulent – GS Jagdeo

The elections held by Venezuela to appoint a governor over Guyana’s Essequibo region were nothing but a desperate and fraudulent sham.

This was the position of General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo as he spoke during his weekly press conference on Thursday

“Those elections were a failure by any standard. It was such a failure that the Vice President of Venezuela had to resort to a blatant lie,” he said.

Dr Jagdeo was referencing a video in which the captain of a boat was transporting passengers between Vreed-en-Hoop and Stabroek Stellings.

Venezuela’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, used that video and suggested that individuals were being transported to vote for a governor in their sham elections.

“That’s the level of fakeness and desperation in the Venezuelan regime. Something that could have easily been debunked to delude themselves that people were gonna cross the border to vote in these elections that purported to elect a governor…and other officials for the Essequibo,” Dr Jagdeo explained.

There were no reports of anyone crossing the border to vote in these illegal elections.

Dr Jagdeo described this as a rejection of the imaginary Venezuelan authority over the Essequibo.

“Nobody wants to be part of Venezuela. This is sovereign Guyanese territory. They recognise that this is one of Maduro’s gambits to deflect attention from his worries at home,” he pointed out.

Meanwhile, the general secretary also chided the opposition for grandstanding during the last sitting of the National Assembly when they walked out while a motion on the border controversy was being debated.

The motion sought to reaffirm the National Assembly’s support for Guyana’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and denounce Venezuela’s attempt to claim authority over the Essequibo region via a sham elections.

“He caused us now [to see] one of the first times in history…where we didn’t have full solidarity on the 1899 Award…they walked out on condemning Venezuela for defying the ICJ’s provisional ruling…that’s what they walked out on,” he posited.

On May 25, the scheduled date for the sham elections, the Department of Public Information (DPI) visited communities close to the Venezuelan border in Region One (Barima-Waini). The residents reported that no campaigning for an election of that nature took place before the date nor were there any moves from Venezuelans to canvas votes for a governor of the region.

The vice president’s comments come as Venezuela has received continuous condemnation for their actions regarding the border controversy. This includes its decision in 2023 to proceed with what it termed a “consultative referendum”, aimed at annexing Guyana’s Essequibo region under the name “Guayana Esequiba”.

In response, Guyana filed a request for provisional measures at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on October 30, 2023.

In its ruling of December 1, 2023, the Court found that Venezuela’s actions presented a serious risk of unilateral control over the disputed territory and ordered that Venezuela refrain from taking any action that would alter the prevailing situation—whereby Guyana exercises full administration of the Essequibo region—until a final ruling is made.

The ICJ further instructed both parties to avoid any actions that might escalate or prolong the dispute.

The Court reaffirmed this position on May 1, 2024, in light of Venezuela’s plans to conduct sham elections in the Essequibo region on May 25. Venezuela continued with its planned elections, defying the ruling of the Court.