“No” to new elections –

BUENOS AIRES (EFE).— Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado yesterday rejected a proposal from Brazil to hold new elections or form a coalition government, and insisted that the results that gave Nicolas Maduro the victory in the presidential election are fraudulent.

“The elections took place and Venezuelan society expressed itself in very adverse conditions, where there was fraud and yet we still managed to win,” said María Corina in a virtual press conference with media in Argentina and Chile, including EFE.

“We must respect the voice of the people, we must respect sovereignty,” the opposition leader stressed and asked: “Would you accept another election being called in your respective countries?”

“If this is a decision that is going to be made at a table, why did they make it in the first place?” he added.

María Corina Machado also stressed that “elections are determined by votes, not by agreements between the leaders.”

Maduro was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council (CNE), but María Corina insisted yesterday on the “monumental victory” of the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia with 7.3 million votes —almost 84% of the votes—, against the 3.3 million votes that she said the Venezuelan president obtained.

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Yesterday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva suggested two possible solutions to the post-election crisis in Venezuela: the formation of a coalition government that includes members of Chavismo and the opposition or the holding of new elections.

This last initiative was apparently initially supported by his US counterpart, Joe Biden, but the White House later corrected itself by saying that Washington considers González Urrutia the winner, implying that the US president made a mistake when answering a reporter’s question.

For his part, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also rejected the proposal yesterday, saying that he does not see it as “prudent” to ask for new elections in Venezuela now.

Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro suggested for Venezuela a “national front” like the one that existed in his country in the 20th century, in which liberals and conservatives took turns in power as a “transitory” step towards a “definitive solution” to the crisis.

Would you accept that?

“There will be a second election, and if he doesn’t like the results, will there be a third, fourth, fifth election, until Maduro likes the results? Would you accept that in your country?” asked María Corina Machado.

“To ignore” the June 28 elections “is a lack of respect for Venezuelans who have given everything. Popular sovereignty is respected. The elections have already taken place,” he insisted.

Regarding the idea of ​​a coalition government, he asked to be “very careful” because he distinguished examples in other countries where the parties have “political differences” but “have been democratic or have not been involved in criminal cases,” from what is happening in Venezuela.

María Corina recalled that her group offers “incentives and safeguards” to government supporters who want to join its ranks to achieve a democratic transition in preparation for González Urrutia’s inauguration on January 10, and promises that there will be no persecution or revenge.