Protesters took to the streets across Venezuela on Tuesday, demanding that President Nicolas Maduro acknowledge he lost Sunday’s election to the opposition, as a major international observer concluded the vote was undemocratic.
The protests, which the government denounced as an attempted “coup,” began on Monday after the South American country’s electoral authority declared that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of votes to extend a quarter-century of socialist rule.
The opposition, which considers the election body to be in the pocket of a dictatorial government, says its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Maduro based on the 90% of vote tallies it has been able to access.
At least 11 people have been killed in different parts of the country since the election in incidents related to the count or associated protests, according to rights group Foro Penal.
The U.S.-based Carter Center, which observed the vote, said in a statement late on Tuesday the election “did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.”
The electoral authority’s failure to publish disaggregated results amounts to a “serious breach,” it added, outlining what it determined to be a deeply flawed process from start to finish.
Many countries have called on Venezuela to make the vote tally public and U.S. sources said Washington was considering fresh sanctions on individuals linked to the election unless there was greater transparency.
On Tuesday, both Maduro and his top legislative ally accused Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado of fomenting violence in the aftermath of the vote.
In a winding speech broadcast on state television, Maduro declared that opposition protesters had battered civilians and started fires, demanding that Gonzalez answer for them.
“Respond to that you coward!” Maduro shouted, after saying both Gonzalez and Machado should be held accountable.
Jorge Rodriguez, the head of the Congress for Maduro’s ruling socialists, was more direct in a speech earlier in the day, insisting that both opposition figures must be arrested for the crimes of the protesters.
“Their bosses should go to prison,” he told lawmakers, accusing Gonzalez of leading a “fascist conspiracy.”
Costa Rica 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.
The embattled Maduro, who also called for more marches, said in his speech that his government was reaching out to both China and Russia for help with alleged attacks on the electoral authority’s systems, blaming billionaire Elon Musk for them without presenting evidence.
Echoing other officials, Maduro’s defense minister, General Vladimir Padrino, declared that there was a “coup in progress” but insisted that the country’s armed forces would help defeat it.
The 61-year-old president is a former union leader and foreign minister who won an election after former President Hugo Chavez’s death in 2013. Maduro was re-elected in 2018 in a vote the opposition says was fraudulent.
He has presided over an economic collapse and a mass exodus of Venezuelans, while U.S. and EU sanctions have crippled an already struggling oil industry.
A Maduro win could spur more migration from Venezuela, once the continent’s wealthiest country, which in recent years has seen a third of its population leave.
(Reuters)
