07/31 – International News Update & Story

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Monday that the country’s opposition has 73.2% of the voting tallies from Sunday’s election. [Reuters]

The tallies in possession of the opposition showed a total of 2.75 million votes for Maduro and 6.27 million for his rival, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, Machado said. The numbers were sharply different to the 5.15 million votes the electoral authority said Maduro had won, compared to 4.45 million for Gonzalez. [Reuters]

The electoral authority stated after midnight Sunday that Maduro had won a majority of the vote and proclaimed him president for 2025 to 2031. 

Indications of a stolen election began to surface, accompanied by triumphant early tweets from the president’s relatives. The defense minister, in military uniform, made a televised statement emphasizing the need for peace and order. 

Opposition observers were alarmed by significant irregularities in the vote count. A six-hour delay in announcing the results was attributed by the electoral authority to “terrorists.” Eventually, the authorities declared a decisive victory for Mr. Maduro. [Politico] 

The claim was widely disputed. An exit poll by Edison Research indicated Mr. González led by 65% to 31%. The Edison Research exit poll was conducted nationwide with 6,846 voters interviewed at 100 polling locations. 

The opposition rejected the official results, asserting that Mr. González had actually won with 70% of the vote, based on their own counts from individual polling stations. Each polling station is supposed to print and electronically send its results to the main count, which should be available for opposition verification. [Politico] 

Edmundo González,  a 74-year-old retired diplomat, was a surprise last-minute choice for the opposition. He  was relatively unknown until April when he replaced the prominent opposition figure Machado. Machado was barred from holding office for 15 years by the Maduro-controlled supreme court, leading to González’s unexpected candidacy at the age of 74. [AP News] 

Former lawmaker Machado won the opposition’s October primary by a landslide, securing over 90% of the vote. After being barred from the presidential race, she selected a college professor as her replacement, but the National Electoral Council prevented this registration as well. Subsequently, González, a political newcomer, was chosen as the candidate. 

Machado had called on the country’s military to uphold the results of the vote. The armed forces have long supported Maduro and there have been no public signs leaders were breaking from the government.

Thousands of protestors have begun taking to the streets to demonstrate against what many believe to be a stolen election. Many have gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela on Monday, including near the presidential palace in Caracas and outside some electoral authority offices. 

“I speak to you with the calmness of the truth,” González said as dozens of supporters cheered outside campaign headquarters in the capital, Caracas. “We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory.” [AP News] 

These public demonstrations have been met with hundreds of heavily armed government security forces. 

Protesters are continuing to take to the streets in mass Tuesday, holding marches and waving flags to demand President Nicolas Maduro acknowledge that he lost Sunday’s election, in what the Venezuelan government has now denounced as an attempted “coup” against Maduro. [Reuters]  

At least 16 people — including one soldier — have died and about 750 more have been arrested as a result of protests that have erupted following Sunday’s presidential election. [New York Times] 

Many Venezuelan voters were disheartened and outraged by the news of Maduro securing another six-year term, during which he oversaw an economic collapse, the exodus of approximately one-third of the population, and significant diplomatic setbacks. These setbacks include sanctions from the United States, the European Union, and other entities that have severely impacted an already struggling oil industry.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed significant concerns that the official results did not accurately represent the people’s votes. Biden administration officials, speaking to reporters anonymously, accused the government of “electoral manipulation.” [Reuters] 

Brazil and the European Union also demanded transparency regarding the polling data, whereas Russia, Cuba, Honduras, and Bolivia celebrated Maduro’s purported victory. 

Argentinian President Javier Milei announced on X, ““Venezuelans chose to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro…Argentina will not recognize another fraud.” Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou and Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea also dismissed the results as fraudulent. [Forbes] 

Costa Rica even said it was prepared to give political asylum to Machado and Gonzalez. On X, Machado thanked the government but said her priority was to “continue this struggle” from Venezuela. 

Opinion: 

It is clear that Maduro ran a completely fraudulent election. Voter turnout was reportedly very high, with many Venezuelan voters ready to actually try and take back and rebuild their faltering nation. 

His control of the armed forces is the only way he will try to maintain his grip on power. The previous presidential election in 2018, is widely recognized to have been fraudulently won by Maduro in the same fashion. 

For the opposition, their immediate goal as of now is likely to convince the Venezuelan public that the election is clearly stolen by pushing for as many polling stations as possible to release the real, printed results.

They must also try to lean heavily on international outcry and condemnation from other states on the blatant eradication of democracy in Venezuela. Once, the richest country in Latin America, a multi-decade path through Socialism has utterly destroyed the country’s economy and infrastructure, with nearly one-third of its population fleeing throughout Maduro’s two terms of dictatorship. The hyperinflation from earlier in Mr Maduro’s rule has eased, yet inflation still runs at an annual 50%. In the eight years to 2021 GDP fell by three-quarters. [Politico] 

A slim avenue of hope could be that members of the state’s armed forces begin to sympathize with their own people and turn against their tyrannous leader. A message for the military: the people of Venezuela have spoken. They don’t want Maduro,” Ms Machado, the opposition leader, tweeted. “It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it’s now.” [Politico] 

The ruling Socialist party backing Maduro maintains strict control over the voting system through a loyal five-member electoral council and a network of long-standing local party coordinators who have almost unrestricted access to voting centers. These coordinators have prevented opposition party representatives from entering voting centers. This exclusion, which is legally allowed for overseeing the voting process, counting votes, and obtaining the machines’ final tally sheets, ensures the ruling party’s influence over the election.

It is eerily telling of what’s at stake on the matter of democracy, as the only countries to have recognized Maduro’s victory are Russia, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, Honduras and Bolivia. 

Without publishing official results, it is hard to believe that any Venezuelan citizens will respect the validity of the claimed election more than they already do. The question now will be how far are the people willing to go to take back their freedom through popular outcry and public mobilization. And if so, how violent can things really become if Maduro and his party double down even harder on their repression in order to cling onto power.  

– P.T.