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Jennifer McCoy, director of the Americas program at the Carter Center, said at a forum in Washington on Friday that there are some concerns in Venezuela about whether both sides are prepared to accept the results whatever the outcome. “Or will there be any situation in which there may be some unrest, even violence?” she said.
 “In order to prevent the conditions that may produce a dangerous situation or potential for violence or severe instability, the basic thing that’s needed is to provide mutual guarantees to both sides,” McCoy said at the forum hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center.
 McCoy, who has directed past election-monitoring missions in Venezuela and other countries, said the potential for danger arises “when people fear that they will lose the benefits that they have gained, when people fear that they will be punished or recriminated against, and when they fear that they will be excluded in the future from participation.”
 “Hopefully the candidates will try to avoid these kinds of scenarios,” she said. Full story here.  

To watch this event and for the report, go here.