Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur) should send observers to accompany the next elections in Brazil and Venezuela. The nominees integrate the Democracy Observatory, which was created two years ago by the Parliament, in order to promote cooperation on electoral matters among Bloc’s countries, and to contribute for the compliance of Ushuaia Protocol on Democratic Commitment at Mercosur – signed up in 1998.

In correspondence sent to the president of Superior Electoral Court (TSE), Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, the current Parlasur president, Senator Aloizio Mercadante, has indicated as observers of the Brazilian elections, scheduled for October 3, eleven Parliamentarians from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. One of them will be the Argentine Claudio Lozano, for whom the initiative will contribute to strengthen democracy. “We promote the defense of democratization in all the countries of the region; therefore, participation as observers seems to us fundamental”, he said.

The observers should follow polling process in cities like Brasilia, Sao Paulo, Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. According Mercadante’s correspondence to TSE president, parliamentarians will also be able to observe the second round of elections.

Venezuela
During the meeting occurred on Monday (13) in Montevideo, integrants of Democracy Observatory of Parlasur decided to send a new correspondence to the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, requesting an authorization for Parliament’s integrants presence as legislative election observers on September 26. The measure was taken because, until that moment, the Council had not answered to the letter sent by Mercadante with the Parliamentarians’ nomination from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, as observers.

At the meeting on 13th, Senator Sérgio Zambiasi admitted the possibility of having occurred “some kind of misunderstanding” justifying Mercosur Parliamentarians’ permission absence in Caracas, at the election date. Deputy Germano Bonow, also a Parliament integrant, thinks in the same way. “Parlasur has the maximum interest in being present at Venezuela’s elections. As we have known that some Brazilian political parties will have representatives at the elections, it is probable that there has been some problem of communication”, Bonow evaluated.

In the debates that preceded the Brazilian Congress approval of Venezuela’s entrance at Mercosur, parliamentary opposition has reminded that Ushuaia Protocol establishes the existence of a democratic regime as a condition at Bloc permanence. They still emphasized that the recent threats to the free press could indicate an existence of threats to the democratic regime in Venezuela.

With information from the Senate Agency.