Deputies of the Portuguese Assembly, the unicameral parliament of the European country, disagreed this Wednesday (16) regarding draft resolutions on the political situation in Venezuela, one of them, presented by the right, to ask for the recognition of oppositionist Edmundo González as president-elect.
The former mayor of Caracas Antonio Ledezma, ousted by Chavismo, was present at the session.
According to information from the Portuguese newspaper Diário de Notícias, the far left was isolated in the debate, arguing that the dictator Nicolás Maduro won the election on July 28th.
The leader of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) in the house, Paula Santos, said that the other parties represented in the Assembly seek to “give a hand to an extreme right-wing coup movement” and called Maduro’s “victory” a “sovereign decision of the people Venezuelan government to move away from oligarchy and subservience.”
The ruling Social Democratic Party (PSD), led by Prime Minister Luís Montenegro, did not recognize Maduro’s “reelection”, but also did not endorse González’s victory and called for the release of the Venezuelan elections’ electoral records.
The opposition Socialist Party (PS) expressed the same position. Deputy João Paulo Rebelo said that his party has “great concern and apprehension regarding the results released” by the National Electoral Council (CNE), dominated by Chavismo.
Rebelo, however, asked for “consideration” in discussions on the subject and said that there are around 400,000 Portuguese living in Venezuela, which “should be our biggest concern”.
The Chega! party, on the nationalist right, accused the far left of providing “communication consultancy for Stalinism”.
“There are those in this house who think that Portugal must be an accomplice of the Caracas narco-state,” said deputy Manuel Magno.
The draft resolutions, including on the recognition of González as the winner of the election in Venezuela, must be voted on on Friday (18).