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Irish MPs CLARE Daly and Mick Wallace dispute claim they took part in bogus election observation trips to Venezuela and Ecuador, after several MEPs were reported to have been blacklisted by Parliament European.
The EU Observer publication today reported that the European Parliament has blacklisted eight MEPs and berated three others for taking what it called bogus election observation trips.
Stefanie Schiffer, head of an NGO European Platform for Democratic Elections, which documents false surveillance, told the publication that the practice undermines the credibility of the European Parliament and undermines the work of monitoring elections.
In a joint statement by Daly and Wallace to the Journal, the two MEPs said the ban announced by the European Parliament until the end of the year was a political coup by the center-right political groups and that they would challenge the decision.
These were not bogus election observation trips, Independent 4 Change MPs said. We made it very clear publicly at the time that we were not visiting Ecuador or Venezuela with an official election observation mandate.
A spokesperson for the European Parliament said in a statement that parliament must select those to go on an observation mission based on certain criteria.
The Venezuelan elections were held on December 6, while the Ecuadorian elections were held on February 7 of this year.
Having effectively monitored the Venezuelan elections, I can confirm that this statement by @JosepBorrellF is pure disinformation.
Not “credible, inclusive or transparent”? How would he know? The EU did not send observers. Nothing said about this is based on reality https://t.co/EJF4Hhd2Xb
– Clare Daly (@ClareDalyMEP) January 6, 2021
Daly and Wallace said their decision to attend both elections was due to a long-standing interest in the affairs of both countries and opposition to EU and US policy in the region.
Western media reports on the Latin American elections have become increasingly unreliable, they added.
We traveled on our own initiative as part of larger delegations from the European left to see for ourselves how these elections went, and to build solidarity with the left movements in these countries.
Although we regret that the Ecuadorian people did not choose Andrs Arauz as their president, we found that the elections were conducted in a fair and impartial manner, and their results are indisputable.
We renew our call for the EU to abandon its policy of foreign interference in Latin American democracies and to respect the decisions of their electorates.
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A spokesperson for the European Parliament told the Journal: The European Parliament’s Democracy Support and Electoral Coordination Group (DEG) reminded all MEPs last Friday that only MEPs appointed by the European Parliament are entitled to represent the Chamber in electoral observations abroad, according to the rules in place.
The Election Coordination Group agreed that MEPs who did not meet the criteria in place will not participate in any election observation missions in 2021.
This decision binds the DEG and only concerns the possibility of being added to election observation missions.
Election observation missions are carried out by the authorities to ensure the fair and democratic conduct of the elections. Ireland appoints observers to missions organized mainly by the EU and the OSCE (through its Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights).
Ireland sends observers on around 12 to 18 election observation missions per year, for short and long term missions.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no OSCE or EU missions continued between March and August last year, and Ireland is now considering public health advice to avoid the non-essential travel when deciding whether election observers should be appointed to participate in election observation. missions.
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