Protest against Venezuela election results, Maduro officially declared winner

AFP A woman protests the election results

NOS News•Monday, 21:46•Modified Tuesday, 02:51

The Venezuelan electoral commission has officially declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the presidential election, which would allow him to begin his third six-year term as president of Venezuela. The opposition suspects fraud.

According to the official results, the authoritarian leader received more than 51 percent of the votes on Sunday. The opposition, which this time united behind candidate Edmundo González, would have received more than 44 percent. These are the same percentages that the electoral commission mentioned after counting 80 percent of the votes.

The opposition parties say they have three quarters of the voting results in their hands. They say they can use this to prove that they are the winners of the elections. In the provisional results, they already accused Maduro of electoral fraud. Maduro himself wants nothing to do with it: in a televised speech, he said that he sees the accusations from the opposition as a coup attempt, a “fascist coup d’état”.

Latin America correspondent Nina Jurna on the protests in Venezuela:

Opposition calls for calm, but protests in Venezuela

During Maduro’s speech, people took to the streets in several places in the capital Caracas to demonstrate against the results. Among other places, demonstrators gathered at the presidential palace. They made noise with pots and pans and tried to block roads. The police responded with tear gas in several places.

Before the elections, independent polls had given 70 percent of the votes to the opposition. That camp had already feared fraud in the counting, and their suspicions of fraud increased when the first results were released only six hours after the polls closed. It is known that the electoral commission is on the side of President Maduro.

Observers

Under Venezuelan law, independent witnesses are allowed to monitor the counting of votes. Initially, observers from the European Union were to come, but the invitation was withdrawn two months ago by the electoral commission.

Yesterday, people who wanted to check the count were also made difficult. According to the opposition, they only got to see about 40 percent of the votes and are now demanding that international observers come and check the count.

International reactions

In other countries, the preliminary results have been met with mixed reactions. Several Latin American countries jointly called for full transparency about the results and the counting process. Panama has since suspended all diplomatic relations with Venezuela.

The countries were joined by the United States, which called the result “hard to believe” and is considering sanctions. The European Union has also called for transparency about the election process.

Maduro did receive support from other countries. Russia, China, Bolivia and Cuba sent their congratulations.