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Supporters of Venezuelan opposition protest following the announcement by the National Electoral Council that President Nicolas Maduro won the presidential election, in Caracas, July 29, 2024. REUTERS
Thousands of people flooded the streets of several neighborhoods of the capital, chanting “Freedom, freedom!” and “This government is going to fall!”
Venezuelan security forces Monday fired tear gas and rubber bullets at protesters challenging the reelection claimed by President Nicolas Maduro but decried by the opposition. Thousands of people flooded the streets of several neighborhoods in the capital, chanting “Freedom, freedom!” as some ripped Maduro campaign posters from street posts and burned them.
Maduro, 61, attended a meeting Monday at which the National Electoral Council (CNE) certified his reelection to a third six-year term until 2031. He dismissed international criticism and doubts about the result of Sunday’s voting, claiming Venezuela was the target of an attempted “coup d’etat” of a “fascist and counter-revolutionary” nature.
Meanwhile, Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters that a review of voting records available so far clearly showed that the next president “will be Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia,” who took her place on the ballot after Maduro-aligned courts barred her.
The records showed a “mathematically irreversible” lead for Gonzalez Urrutia, she said, with 6.27 million votes to only 2.75 million for Maduro. The elections were held amid widespread fears of fraud by the government and a campaign tainted by accusations of political intimidation. Pollsters had predicted a resounding victory for the opposition.
In the early hours of Monday, the CNE said Maduro had won 51.2 percent of votes cast compared to 44.2 percent for Gonzalez Urrutia. The opposition cried foul, prompting Attorney General Tarek William Saab to link Machado to an alleged cyber “attack” seeking to “adulterate” the results.
‘Fraud’
The outcome sparked concern and calls for a “transparent” process from the United Nations, United States, European Union and several countries in Latin America. The CNE has not provided a detailed breakdown of the result. Allies including China, Russia and Cuba congratulated Maduro.
Gonzalez Urrutia, a 74-year-old former diplomat, on Monday acknowledged the deep discontent in society with the CNE results and vowed that “we will fight for our liberty.” Machado assured Venezuelans that “the leaders of the world” are validating the results, and called families to turn out Tuesday for “popular assemblies” nationwide to show support for a peaceful transition of power.
Nine Latin American countries called in a joint statement Monday for a “complete review of the results with the presence of independent electoral observers.” The US-based Carter Center, one of a few organizations allowed to bring observers into Venezuela, urged the CNE to immediately publish detailed polling station-level results.
Brazil and Colombia also urged a review of the numbers while Chile’s president said the outcome was “hard to believe.” Peru recalled its ambassador and Panama said it was suspending relations with Venezuela. Caracas hit back Monday, saying it was withdrawing diplomatic staff from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay for “interventionist actions and statements.”
‘Bloodbath’
Independent polls had predicted Sunday’s vote would end 25 years of “Chavismo,” the populist movement founded by Maduro’s socialist predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez. Maduro has been at the helm of the once-wealthy oil-rich country since 2013. The last decade has seen GDP drop by 80 percent, pushing more than seven million of its 30 million citizens to emigrate.
He is accused of locking up critics and harassing the opposition in a climate of rising authoritarianism. In the run-up to the election, he had warned of a “bloodbath” if he lost. Ballots were cast on machines that sent electronic votes directly to a centralized CNE database. The machines printed out paper receipts that were placed in a container and counted by hand as a backup measure meant to be open to public scrutiny. The opposition had deployed about 90,000 volunteer election monitors nationwide.
(With agency inputs)
