Venezuela on Fire as Maduro was Declared Self Winner and Hid the Election Results
On Monday, security forces had to disperse large crowds of protesters with tear gas, while hundreds more were seen walking down a main road banging pots and pans as anger rose over Maduro’s victory.
People were also seen setting fire to Maduro’s election posters outside the military base where he lives.
Protests were also reported in other cities. Opposition activist Esthefania Natera told CNN that people were on the streets “to yell and demand to tell the truth because we know the real results.”
Before being named the winner on Monday at a ceremony held at the National Electoral Council (CNE), Maduro grinned as he was greeted by many in the audience with applause and congratulations.
The final vote totals from Sunday’s election have not yet been released by the CNE, which is heavily stacked with Maduro allies.
Just after midnight, the National Electoral Council claimed that Maduro secured 51% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who received 44%. The results were based on an 80% tally of voting stations, marking an irreversible trend.
However, they did not release the official tallies from each of the 15,797 voting centers across the country, which stopped the opposition’s ability to challenge the results after claiming it had the voting acts for only 30% of the ballot boxes.
“Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González said in his first remarks.
Additionally, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of Gonzalez’s victory was “overwhelming” based on voting tallies it had received from campaign representatives who gave results of about 40% of ballot boxes nationwide.
The results were also doubted by the Biden administration.
While speaking in Tokyo, Japan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken 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 election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that the electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes,” Blinken said. “The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly.”
Additionally, Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) was very critical of the election, calling it “the most predictable and ridiculous sham election in modern history” shortly after Maduro was announced the victor.
Other foreign leaders also denounced the election results in Venezuela.
“The Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to believe,” said Gabriel Boric, the leader of Chile. “We won’t recognize any result that is not verifiable.”
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo said, “We receive the results announced by the CNE (electoral authority) with many doubts,” Reuters reported.
Reuters also quoted Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou as saying, “It was an open secret. They were going to ‘win’ regardless of the actual results.”
However, China and Cuba congratulated Maduro on his “historic” win, according to Agence France-Presse.
The delay in announcing results, six hours after polls were supposed to close, caused a concern on how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in declaring victory.
When Maduro came out and declared victory, he accused unidentified foreign enemies of trying to hack the voting system.
“This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he said to supporters at the presidential palace.
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