The Carter Centre was among the organizations that sent observer missions to monitor Venezuela’s last presidential vote in 2006, along with the European Union and the Organization of American States. Venezuelan electoral authorities have since stopped inviting full international observer missions and have instead asked some foreign individuals to witness voting in smaller-scale “accompaniment” visits. The Carter Centre said in a statement that the council invited it to “form an intermediate option” and send a small group of experts to join in pre-election audits and be present on voting day.
”My understanding is that the (Electoral council) has come to the conclusion that they no longer need international observation to give confidence to the process,“ said Jennifer McCoy, director of the centre’s Americas program. ”Since 2006 they’ve been in consultation with the political parties to establish a number of security mechanisms and audits with the participation of the political parties to give confidence to the process“ revealed McCoy who added that Venezuelan domestic observer groups, political parties and voters themselves will have a number of ways to participate in monitoring the vote.
Full Article: Carter Centre absent as observer from Venezuelan October presidential election — MercoPress.