Venezuelan opposition’s call not to recognise May polls

PARIS, Apr 4 (AFP): Leading opponents of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday called on France and other EU nations not to recognise elections set for May, saying the vote was simply a sham aimed at consolidating his grip on power. The country has been gripped by a political and economic crisis for months as Madura has overhauled institutions while sidelining the main opposition coalition, which has been barred from fielding candidates. "We've come to ask the French government to increase the pressure in order to free Venezuela from the dictatorship," Antonio Ledezma, the exiled mayor of Caracas, told AFP at the start of a tour of European capitals. "There is a crisis in Venezuela, a humanitarian catastrophe, people starving, people dying due to a lack of medicine," he said. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, speaking Tuesday following a meeting with his Argentinian counterpart Jorge Faurie, said France hoped to see "fair and transparent elections". If there is no progress in that direction, he warned, "France, in conjunction with its European partners, will adopt the additional measures required".