Venezuela cancels invitation to Argentina's ex-president to observe vote

Argentina's ex-president Alberto Fernandez said Wednesday he had been asked to cancel plans to observe Venezuelan elections Sunday after he publicly urged incumbent Nicolas Maduro to accept the outcome, even if he loses.

Maduro is seeking a third six-year term with the opposition polling far in the lead despite what is being seen as a  campaign of intimidation and persecution.

On Monday, Brazil's leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reacted to the president's warnings of a "bloodbath" if he loses, saying: "Maduro has to learn: if you win, you stay. If you lose, you go."

The following day, Fernandez paraphrased Lula as he urged Maduro in a radio interview to accept defeat, if that is the outcome.

He was then asked by the government in Caracas to cancel his observer mission to Venezuela, the former president wrote on X Wednesday.

"The reason given to me is that, in the opinion of that government, public statements made by me to national media... raised doubts about my impartiality."

Fernandez said he had decided it would therefore be "expedient" to cancel his trip.

Maduro will face off against ex-diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, a stand-in for opposition leader Maria Corina Machado who was barred from participation by institutions loyal to the regime. She overwhelmingly won a primary last year.

Earlier Wednesday, Machado and Gonzalez Urrutia's Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) said it had resolved technical difficulties that had prevented its more than 90,000 volunteer election monitors from obtaining their accreditation.

Rights group Foro Penal has reported 102 arrests of people linked to the opposition presidential campaign so far this year, adding to more than 270 political prisoners in the country.

Last week, Machado warned of an "escalation of repression by Maduro" as her security chief became the latest to be rounded up.

The government accuses the opposition of conspiring against Maduro, whose reelection in 2018 was rejected as illegitimate by most Western and Latin American countries.