Joint Declaration on Venezuela.

Joint Declaration on Venezuela by the President of the French Republic, the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, the President of the Government of Spain, the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland, the Prime-Minister of the Portuguese Republic.

We express our great concern regarding the situation in Venezuela after last Sunday's presidential elections.

We call on Venezuelan authorities to release promptly all the tally sheets in order to guarantee the full transparency and integrity of the electoral process. The opposition indicates that they have collected and published over 80% of the tally sheets that were produced at each voting table. This verification is essential for recognizing the will of the Venezuelan people.

The rights of all the Venezuelans, especially the political leaders, should be respected during this process. We strongly condemn any arrests or threats against them.

The will of the Venezuelan people as well as their right to peacefully protest and freedom of assembly need also to be respected.

We will continue with partners to closely follow the situation and to support the call for democracy and peace of the Venezuelan people.