The two Venezuela powerful Nicolas Maduro and opposition claim victory in the elections, as US raises ‘grave concerns’
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his political opposition both claimed to have taken the presidency on Monday. However, both the United States and multiple regional nations expressed doubt about the official results, which overwhelmingly favored the dictator.
By Jessie Yeung, Tara John, Stefano Pozzebon
July 29, 2024, 06:50 AM
Caracas, Venezuela CNN —
The Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his political opposition both claimed to have been the winner of Monday’s presidential elections, even as several countries including the United States and multiple regional nations expressed doubt over the official results, which proclaimed victory to the dictator.
The majority of the votes being counted, Maduro won more than 51% of votes surpassing candidate for theDemocratic U.S. Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia who gained over 44% of the vote, according toaccording an announcement released by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
However, the opposition presented an entirely different picture of the outcome. Leader of the opposition Maria Corina Machado said in an interview that own electoral records show that the presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was able to win 70 percent of the votes against Maduro’s 30 percent.
“We did it, and everybody is aware of it,” Machado said, noting that the opposition will “defend what is true.”
“The whole world knows the events in Venezuela and the manner in which the people voted to change their lives,” she said.
Gonzalez who was also present during the news conference claimed that the rules were infractions during the election.
If Maduro is elected in the near future, it will be for the third time in a row, a six-year period that will represent the continuity of “Chavismo” as president that began in 1999, under the control of the former the president Hugo Chavez. Maduro has been in office since the death of Chavez in 2013.
The vote comes at an important time for Venezuela which is an oil-rich country which suffered the biggest economic collapse of a peaceful country in recent times. Maduro has blamed sanctions from abroad against his regime, declaring that Venezuela is the victim of an “economic conflict.”
In the meantime, the oppositionwho have been energized during this election, and is posing the most serious threat to Maduro’s the presidency in recent years has promised to restore democracy in Venezuela and restore the economy should they win.
In the course of the election there are growing fears that the opposition may not be able to see a fair election because Maduro’s government is in charge of every public institution in Venezuela as well as the Supreme Court – which could be the ultimate arbiter in any claims of electoral fraud. The government is also accused of rigging elections previously, a claim it has denied.
Celebrations and tears
Voters been out in large numbers, and many said they’d quit the country in the event that Maduro was elected — in reference to the brutal suppression and economic decline under his regime.
When the results were announced, Maduro described it as an “triumph of stability, peace as well as republican ideals and the ideals about equality.”
“They couldn’t over come the sanctions, they were unable to overcome the violence or threats, they cannot today and never will be able to overturn respect for the citizens in Venezuela,” he said in his speech to the public in reference to his political foes.
These results, announced by electoral authorities were met by mixed feelings in the capital city of Caracas and Caracas, with Maduro supporters exuberantly celebrating outside the presidential residence. In contrast, supporters of the opposition have been seen crying as well as embracing in the streets.
In the evening of Sunday opposition leaders claimed there were irregularities in the election -witnesses from opposition groups being denied access to CNE headquarters while the CNE had to count votes, and the CNE is allegedly stopping data from being transferred from polling places in order to stop more votes from being counted.
The lead-up to the election was plagued by accusations of incriminating playing.
The campaign for the election included at the very least 71 individuals detained arbitrarily – most of them providing some form of support to the opposition several media websites were shut down within the country, as per the human rights group Laboratorio de Paz.
The government also imposed important obstacles to allow Venezuelans who are abroad to vote, such as a virtually inaccessible passports and residency requirements.
CNN has approached the CNE and the CNE hasn’t been able to respond to the allegations made by the opposition.
‘Serious concerns’
Following the CNE declared Maduro’s victory, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concerns that the results announced do not reflect the intentions or the will that are the votes of Venezuelan population.”
He said the need was “critical” that votes be counted accurately and transparently and urged the CNE to release its voting results.
The allegations of the opposition could be a hindrance to Venezuela being able to return on the world arena following Maduro made a promise in January of last year that he would organize fair and free elections during US-mediated talks in exchange for relief from sanctions.
The results also prompted mixed reactions throughout the region. Presidents from Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina and Uruguay each one of them either criticized or doubted the results, with some declaring that they will not accept Maduro’s victory. Before the elections several Latin American leaders had urged Maduro to make a commitment to step out if he loses.
Some of Venezuela’s friends were happy for Maduro for his win and included presidents of Honduran, Bolivian and Cuban. Bolivian, Honduran and Cuban presidents.
On Sunday night an official statement made on the internet from the Venezuelan foreign minister slammed the”external “intervention” to sway the elections in pointing fingers at several countries who had criticised the results, such as Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and more.
CNN’s Flora Charner and Ed Szekeres contributed to this report.
