Venezuela's electoral authority ratifies Maduro's increasingly contested victory

Photo: Federico Parra Agence France-Presse Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on Friday

Patrick Fort – Agence France-Presse in Caracas

Published at 16:45

• Americas

Unsurprisingly, Venezuela’s electoral authority confirmed on Friday the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro, contested in the streets, but also increasingly internationally, with four Latin American countries now recognizing, following the United States, the opposition’s victory.

During a press conference in Caracas, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, confirmed Mr. Maduro’s victory in the July 28 election with 52% of the vote, against opponent Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (43%).

These official figures, giving 6.4 million votes to Maduro and 5.3 million to his rival, were communicated several days late by the CNE, which claims to have been the target of “massive computer attacks from different parts of the country.” world.”

The electoral authority has “however managed to collect today […] 96.87% of the electoral PV”, and reported a turnout of 59.97%, again according to Mr. Amoroso.

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“Hooded and armed”

Heir to the socialist and Bolivarian leader Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, 61, in power since 2013, is officially re-elected for a third term until 2031, while the opposition has been crying foul for a week about “massive fraud” and electoral hold-up.

Thursday, the leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado, declared ineligible by the government and who had been replaced at short notice by Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia, called for demonstrations on Saturday “in all the cities” of the country to assert “the victory history” of her candidate, the discreet diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

Promising to go “to the end”, she said she “feared” for her life and was forced into hiding, after Mr. Maduro’s explicit threats to send her and Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia “behind bars,” vowing that the opposition “would never come to power.”

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As of Friday, the CNE has still not published the detailed results by polling station, while the opposition says it has gathered more than 80% of the ballot papers. According to the opposition's count, Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia received 67% of the votes.

Nearly 1,200 people, accused of “fascist behavior” and some of “terrorism,” were arrested during the spontaneous demonstrations that broke out across the country in the two days following the vote.

According to human rights organizations, at least 11 civilians died during these demonstrations. The authorities reported the death of a soldier, while the opposition spoke of twenty deaths and eleven forced disappearances, and denounced “brutal repression.”

The opposition also denounced on Friday the ransacking of its headquarters in Caracas during the night by a group of armed and hooded men.

Sale Venezuela, Ms. Machado's party, reported on the social network ~ “Six hooded and unidentified men overpowered the security agents, threatened them and began to paint graffiti, break doors and seize equipment and documents,” the party said, video at the support showing this graffiti and belongings thrown on the ground in its offices.

On Friday, the situation was apparently normal in Caracas, with businesses open where many residents were stocking up in anticipation of possible difficulties this weekend due to the demonstrations.

“Indisputable evidence”

Ms. Machado and Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia are demanding that the ballots be recounted in a transparent and fully independent manner, a demand echoed by many Western countries, as well as Latin American countries.

On Friday, following the United States the day before, Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador and Costa Rica recognized the victory of the opposition candidate.

“We can all confirm without a shadow of a doubt that the legitimate winner and the elected president is Edmundo Gonzalez,” said Uruguayan Foreign Minister Diana Mondino, speaking of “incontrovertible evidence.”

Ms. Mondino thus repeated almost word for word the statement made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday evening: “Given the “With incontrovertible evidence, it is clear to the United States and, above all, to the Venezuelan people, that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the most votes in the presidential election of July 28.”

According to American diplomacy, this gap is even counted in “millions of votes”.

In response to Mr. Blinken's remarks, Nicolas Maduro on Thursday evening called on the United States to “get their noses out of Venezuela”.

Peru was the first country, on Tuesday, to recognize Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the “legitimate” elected president, which prompted Caracas to break off diplomatic relations with Lima.