Protesters take to the streets in Venezuela over contested presidential election

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Amid accusations that Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro had overtly stolen Sunday’s presidential election, 1000’s of Venezuelans took to the streets to protest whereas the opposition gathered proof to point out that its candidate, Edmundo González, had gained in a landslide.

Venezuelans throughout the nation banged pots and pans, marched and chanted anti-Maduro slogans. In western Falcón state, a gaggle of protesters tore down a statue of the late President Hugo Chávez, Maduro’s mentor who ushered in Venezuela’s leftist revolution a quarter-century in the past. In Caracas, they gathered in entrance of the closely guarded presidential palace the place they sang the nationwide anthem.

“I’m right here as a result of I desire a change. I can not stand this authorities,” said Deiker Boadas, 18, as he joined one of the marches in Caracas. “This was fraud. Maduro didn’t win anywhere.”

Anger was also rising overseas. The United States, the European Union and many Latin American countries that have been inundated by Venezuelan migrants fleeing an economic crisis at home, demanded an audit of Sunday’s results.

After hours of total silence, the pro-Maduro National Electoral Council early Monday morning claimed that President Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for González.

But the electoral council did not provide any detailed voter tallies and is headed by Elvis Amoroso, a Maduro loyalist. Indeed, it was Amoroso who, while serving as comptroller general in 2023, banned opposition leader María Corina Machado from running for president, prompting her to recruit González as her stand-in.

Police block protesters throughout demonstrations towards the official election outcomes declaring President Nicolás Maduro’s reelection, the day after the vote at a freeway in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday.

Fernando Vergara/AP

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Fernando Vergara/AP

In sharp distinction to the electoral council’s information, pre-election polls, fast counts, exit polls and voter tallies all indicated overwhelming help for González. One exit ballot by the revered U.S. agency Edison Analysis confirmed González main Maduro 65% to 31%.

One of many agency’s analysts, Rob Farbman, instructed Colombia’s RCN Radio that he had by no means been concerned in exit polling anyplace on this planet the place the agency’s outcomes diverged so radically from the official vote rely. Talking of the electoral council’s numbers, he stated: “It took a lot of fraud to get to these results.”

The Biden administration was additionally skeptical. One official, who spoke to reporters in Washington on situation of anonymity, stated: “By engaging in repression and electoral manipulation, and by declaring a winner without the detailed precinct by precinct polling results … Maduro representatives have stripped the supposed election results they announced of any credibility.”

Argentina, Chile and Peru said they would not recognize Maduro’s victory while many other Latin American nations called for an independent audit of the ballots.

In response, late Monday, Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil posted at statement on X announcing the withdrawal of their diplomats from seven Latin American countries, accusing them of attempted interference in election.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center, one of the few independent organizations allowed to monitor the balloting, called on the electoral council “to immediately publish the presidential election results at the polling station level.”

Opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez (proper) and opposition chief María Corina Machado be part of palms throughout a press convention the day after the election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday.

Cristian Hernandez/AP

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Cristian Hernandez/AP

González, Machado and different opposition leaders spent most of Monday behind closed doorways determining make their case of voter fraud. Moreover exit ballot outcomes, they’re counting on the paper voting tallies printed out when folks forged their ballots to show that the election was stolen.

By early Monday night, the opposition had known as a press convention, the place Machado declared they’d “a way to prove the truth of what happened” on polling day. Machado claimed they’d entry to 73% of the voter tally sheets. She known as for all Venezuelans to come back out on to the streets on Tuesday and collect peacefully to point out their help.

For its half, the Maduro authorities was busy stitching collectively a very totally different model of occasions.

Offering no proof, Lawyer Normal William Tarek Saab stated Monday that the electoral system had been the sufferer of a cyberattack coordinated allegedly from the southern European nation of North Macedonia. Saab blamed the alleged hacking operation on the opposition and introduced a prison investigation towards Machado and two different opposition leaders.

Transferring rapidly to go off what gave the impression to be a rising backlash by offended voters, Nationwide Electoral Council President Amoroso on Monday afternoon licensed Maduro’s victory with out offering any new voter information on the election. Certainly, the council’s web site, the place outcomes are presupposed to be posted, remained offline.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro attends a ceremony on the Nationwide Electoral Council that certifies him because the winner of the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday.

Matias Delacroix/AP

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Matias Delacroix/AP

In a speech, Maduro declared that his election was “irreversible” and signaled that his administration, which has almost strangled Venezuela’s democracy throughout 11 years in energy, may have interaction in one other crackdown ought to opposition protests swell.

“This time we will show no weakness,” he warned.

Throughout anti-government marches in 2014 and 2017, authorities safety forces killed a handful of protesters, and detained and tortured 1000’s extra. The abuses prompted the Worldwide Prison Court docket to open an investigation towards the Maduro authorities for alleged crimes towards humanity.

The unknown amount is the response of the army — which has to this point remained loyal to Maduro.

However as Maduro swaggered within the aftermath of Sunday’s election, some political analysts stated there was nonetheless time for Maduro to backtrack — and for the opposition to show the tables.

“This isn’t over yet. Maduro has to convince the ruling elite that he can keep things under control, but both he and the military know that he can’t govern a country in flames,” stated Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela skilled on the Atlantic Council assume tank in Washington. “He’s effectively inviting the biggest loyalty test he’s faced in years. I doubt Venezuelan elites are eager for six more years of repression, sanctions, and economic catastrophe.”