France Germany and others: Venezuela must disclose election records

Following a presidential election in Venezuela that was accompanied by allegations of fraud, Germany and other European countries are demanding the publication of the election documents. "We express our deep concern about the situation in Venezuela following last Sunday's presidential elections," said a joint statement by Germany, France, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.

"We call on the Venezuelan authorities to quickly publish all election documents in order to ensure the transparency and integrity of the electoral process," it continued. This is essential in order to recognize the will of the Venezuelan people.

After last Sunday's election, the electoral authority, which is loyal to the party line, declared Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian president who has been in power since 2013, the winner. However, it has not yet published a breakdown of the results for the individual constituencies.

Over the past few days, numerous people in the South American country have demonstrated against what they see as a rigged election. Supporters of the socialist government also took to the streets to support Maduro in the power struggle with the opposition.

The USA and half a dozen Latin American countries have already recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner. The European Union, the Organization of American States and numerous countries in the region have at least expressed clear doubts about the official election result.