by Gelet Martínez Fragela
Both Venezuela’s opposition coalition and communist dictator Nicolás Maduro declared victory in Sunday’s presidential election, setting the stage for a potential showdown in the South American country, according to widespread news reports.
The delay in announcing results, which took place six hours after precincts were originally scheduled to close, created debate within Maduro’s regime about how to proceed since polls continued to show the opposition with a sweeping lead.
Opposition reminds the world of its sweeping lead in polls
Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) opposition coalition, who selected Edmundo González Urrutia (pictured above, right) as her successor after Maduro targeted and banned her from the election process, said his victory margin was “overwhelming” based on actual voting tallies it received from coalition representatives.
The opposition said the vote recounts it had received, as well as quick counts, showed González had a 40 percentage point lead over the dictator with such reports coming in from an estimated 40% of ballot boxes throughout the country.
Minutes after the announcement, opposition leader María Corina Machado and González gave a press conference where they assured that the opposition really obtained 70% of the votes against Maduro’s 30%.
“We won and everyone knows it,” Machado said. “The entire international community knows what happened in Venezuela and how people voted for change.”
Maduro has a strategic advantage however, since he controls the election apparatus.
The National Electoral Council (CNE), which is entirely controlled by the Maduro regime, immediately reported that Maduro won 51% of the vote with only 44% for González but has so far not released the tallies.
According to a report published by The Associated Press, Venezuela has 30,000 polling booths nationwide. The communist regime has since assured the media that it would release those tallies in the “coming hours,” making it impossible for anyone to actually verify any results.
U.S. expresses “serious concerns” about Maduro’s declared victory
Latin American leaders and the United States expressed doubts about the results, but a Monday morning BBC television report said that “international pressure was rising” to see evidence of the vote tallies amid Maduro’s claims.
Speaking from Japan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. has “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” according to a report published by ABC News.
U.S. Congressional leaders also expressed their concerns.
“The dictator Maduro once again is trying to steal the elections in one of the most blatant acts of fraud ever seen in Venezuelan history. We on the House Foreign Affairs Committee won’t let him get away with it this time. His crimes will not go unanswered,” wrote Florida Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar on the X social media platform.
“Biden & Harris broadly eased Trump sanctions on Maduro regime as part of a “deal” for elections in #Venezuela. Today was that election and it was a complete fraud. The latest example of how our enemies have suckered Biden and Harris repeatedly over the last four years,” she wrote.
Former Vice President Mike Pence immediately sided with the opposition as well.
“After decades of dictatorship and deprivation, Venezuelans voted in historic numbers for change and now Maduro declares himself the winner. Biden must restore sanctions immediately and rally the free world until Maduro is Gone and Libertad is Restored, the former vice president wrote on X.
Latin American leaders express similar doubts, showing support for opposition
Latin American leaders also expressed similar concerns.
“The Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to believe,” said Gabriel Boric, the newly elected leftist president of Chile. “We won’t recognize any result that is not verifiable.”
“The theft has been completed: The tyrant Nicolás Maduro has committed electoral fraud to perpetuate himself in power, ignoring the massive support of the Venezuelan people for the heroic democratic resistance led by @MariaCorinaYA and @EdmundoGU,” wrote former Colombian president and election observer Ivan Duque on his X social media platform.”
“I strongly call on the international community to stand on the side of democracy, not recognize the tyrant and exert maximum pressure to prevent the consolidation of this usurpation of power.”
Newly elected Argentinian president Javier Milei was forceful in his words, asserting that it was time for Maduro to leave power.
“Dictator Maduro, get the hell out!” he said in a statement released on X.
“Venezuelans chose to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. The data announce a crushing victory for the opposition and the world is waiting for it to recognize defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death,” he wrote.
“Argentina is not going to recognize another fraud and hopes that the Armed Forces this time will defend democracy and the popular will. Freedom Advances in Latin America.”
Shortly after Maduro’s announcement, U.S. News and World Report also revealed that Spain was demanding the regime release the vote tallies, asserting that it also had doubts about its purported victory.
Even SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed doubts about Maduro’s announcement.
“Shame on Dictator Maduro,” he wrote on his X platform.
Maduro blames foreign influence and election penetration
When the communist dictator finally emerged to announce his victory and celebrate with his fellow Marxist Chavistas, he immediately used the opportunity to blame foreign penetration of his country’s voting system.
“This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” Maduro (pictured here) said to a few hundred supporters who gathered at the presidential palace.
However, he offered no vote tallies or proof to back up his claims, only vowing “justice” for anyone who instigated violence.
Meanwhile, the opposition coalition insists that vote tallies they have so far preserved from precinct representatives at polling stations evidence a sweeping victory for González.
Maduro’s electoral council said it would release the official voting tallies in the coming hours, but the world continues to wait for such evidence.
Before the election, opposition supporters were celebrating in the streets and outside voting polling stations.
“I’m so happy,” said 31-year-old Merling Fernández to The Associated Press. In her voting center—a working class neighborhood of Caracas, polls showed González far ahead Maduro. “This is the path toward a new Venezuela,” she said. “We are all tired of this yoke.”
Opposition supporters were so inspired about the prospects of removing Maduro they showed up early at dawn, waiting hours to cast their vote.
U.S. says it is “critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently”
“The election will have ripple effects throughout the Americas, with government opponents and supporters alike signaling their interest in joining the exodus of 7.7 million Venezuelans who have already left their homes for opportunities abroad should Maduro win another six year term,” the AP report wrote.
Speaking from Tokyo, Blinken made clear the United States has ‘serious concerns’ about the called for election officials to release the full results, promising that the U.S. and the international community would remain vigilant about pressing Maduro for the real results.
“We have seen the announcement just a short while ago by the Venezuelan Electoral Commission,” he said. “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.”
“It’s critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently that the electoral authorities immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay and that the electoral authorities publish the tabulation of votes. The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly.”
News reports indicated that Maduro received congratulations from his authoritarian allies in Cuba and Russia.
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Gelet Martínez Fragela is the founder and editor-in-chief of ADN America. She is a Cuban journalist, television producer, and political refugee who also founded ADN Cuba.
Image “Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina Machado” by Edmundo Gonzalez.
