The Venezuelan opposition rejected on Thursday to subscribe a pact with the government agreeing to recognize the results of the upcoming presidential elections, Bloomberg reported.
President Nicolás Maduro signed the agreement with seven little-known candidates, while a dissident from the opposition, Enrique Márquez, didn't sign either.
The opposition presidential candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, indicated he wouldn't support the agreement saying the government already violated an electoral accord by withdrawing an invitation for the European Union to oversee the electoral process.
Jorge Rodríguez, who leads the government-friendly Legislative Assembly and coordinates Maduro's campaign, had taunted the opposition into signing. "Let's go to the electoral body to sign a paper in which we all commit to recognize the results. I am ready, Maduro is ready, are they?" he said in early June.
There were other electoral oversight-related news over the past hours, as the Carter Center announced it will send a mission to the Caribbean country to that end.
The news are significant as international oversight will play a key role in the election's perceived legitimacy. Dozens of countries refused to recognize the last presidential elections, arguing that the process where Nicolás Maduro claimed the victory were ridden with inconsistencies and unclean.
The government's withdrawal of the invitation to the EU exacerbated concerns about the process, drawing criticism by several members of the international community, including the EU, U.S. and the G7 group as a whole. The latter said in a recent statement that this jeopardizes the opposition's chances of a fair process.
The country members expressed their "deep concern about the opposition's rights within the electoral process and the decision to withdraw the invitation for an electoral oversight mission from the EU."
As the time to go to the polls gets closer, the government has stepped up harassment of opposition members. The latest example took place last week, when three opposition activists were arrested after being involved in the organization of political rallies for presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and top opposition leader María Corina Machado. She said this week that 37 activists have been "arbitrarily detained" so far this year.
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