Maduro declared victor, opposition declares fraud
July 29, 2024
Venezuela’s electoral authority declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of yesterday’s presidential election with 51.2 percent of the vote. The main opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia received 44.2 percent, with 80 percent of voting stations counted. The results set Maduro up for a third presidential term, that would last until 2031.
There were widespread reports of irregularities and voter intimidation throughout the day yesterday. Opposition leaders said their monitors were kicked out of polling stations and denounced irregularities with vote tallies. (Efecto Cocuyo, Runrun.es)
Electoral authorities made the announcement eight hours after polls closed, a delay they ascribed to sabotage. (Caracas Chronicles) Speaking last night, Maduro praised his country’s electoral system, describing it as one with a “very high level of trust, security, transparency.” He also said the system was the target of a failed “massive hack” by a foreign actor, which he refused to identify. (Associated Press)
Opposition parties immediately challenged the results, saying the contradicted data they had received earlier in the day from the electoral agency, before it halted information sharing abruptly, which showed Gonzalez with 70 percent of the vote compared to 30 percent for Maduro. (Miami Herald)
Following the electoral authorities’ announcement after midnight, opposition leader María Corina Machado declared González the real winner of the election. She said the electoral authority announcement is not credible given these earlier results, and also cited exit polls from reputable firms that contradict the electoral authority announcement. (Efecto Cocuyo, Runrun.es, Reuters)
Opposition leaders say electoral officials’ refusal to release paper tallies of the electronic vote in many polling places. Venezuelan electoral law guarantees access to the paper printout of each electronic voting machine’s final tally. But so far opposition monitors have only obtained 40 percent of these tallies. Without these paper counts, the results cannot be verified. (New York Times and New York Times)
Machado asked election observers and supporters to remain at voting centers until all voting records arrive. (Washington Post)
González said early this morning that his campaign will not rest until the Venezuelan people’s will is respected, but it was not immediately clear what his strategy would be. He said he was not calling people out onto the streets. (Efecto Cocuyo, Associated Press)
Though it was always considered unlikely that the Maduro government would simply cede power, Venezuelans expressed a strong desire for change during the campaign, which fanned optimistic expectations that Venezuela’s fractious opposition, which had mustered a united front against a Chavista government, could successfully force a democratic transition via ballot boxes.
Citizens were motived after years of political apathy, and Venezuela’s election day effectively started the night before polls opened in many places, as people camped in line to vote.
The government sought to quash the swell of opposition support by suppressing voters, organizing polling stations to ensure long lines, moving polling places at the last minute, limiting voting hours, and, in other cases, extending voting times in areas where officials rounded up pro-government votes.
The Washington Post reports violence in some polling centers: “when opposition supporters at the Liceo Andrés Bello in Caracas complained of being denied access to the vote count, a colectivo — a gang of at least 150 Maduro supporters on motorbikes — arrived shouting pro-government chants … the men, hooded and wearing black, begin to punch and kick those outside the polling center, injuring multiple people.”
International Reactions
The lack of credible results means “Venezuela is facing a new political blockade,” reports El País. “The presidential election was the result of a secret agreement between the United States and the Chavista government in Qatar, and viewed by the international community as a way of leading the country towards a democratic normality.”
Though regional allies, Cuba, Bolivia and Honduras congratulated Maduro on his second reelection, a number of countries called for a more transparent vote tabulation or called outright fraud. The U.S. secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said his government had “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.” (Guardian)
Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, tweeted: “Maduro’s regime must understand that the results it has published are hard to believe … Chile will not recognize any result that is not verifiable.” Colombia joined calls for a total vote count, while Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo said the country received the official results “with many doubts. This is why electoral observation mission reports are essential, and today more than ever, must defend Venezuelans' votes." (Reuters)
Germany this morning called “all for the publication of detailed results for all polling stations & access to all voting and election documents for opposition and observers.” And the European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said “Ensuring full transparency in the electoral process, including detailed counting of votes and access to voting records at polling stations, is vital."
Costa Rica, Peru and Uruguay all rejected what they characterized as a fraudulent vote count. Peru announced it had recalled its ambassador to Venezuela for consultation over the election results. (AFP)
Ahead of the election results, Argentina’s president Javier Milei called on Venezuela’s Armed Forces to defend democracy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Maduro this morning. (Reuters)
Migration
Venezuelan migrants became more likely to be in an irregular status as a result of the implementation of visa restrictions on Venezuela across South America, according to a paper at World Development, explaining, “The introduction of visa restrictions and consequent situation of migratory irregularity shifted migrants’ priorities, mainly away from seeking employment, likely delaying their integration.” (Americas Migration Brief)
Trump vs. Biden on immigration: 12 charts comparing U.S. border security — Washington Post
Mexico
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador called for “transparency” after the sudden arrests of Sinaloa Cartel leaders Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada García and Joaquín Guzmán López in the U.S. last week. “The nature of the arrests will shape the fallout in Mexico, where the suggestion of a betrayal within the Sinaloa cartel could be explosive,” reports the Guardian. (See last Friday’s briefs.)
“It is still unclear how the events unfolded. Several sources within the US government, who had knowledge of the operation but were not authorized to speak on the matter, told InSight Crime the pair orchestrated their handover to US authorities.”
“Inasmuch as the Sinaloa cartel is a multinational corporate success, El Mayo is at once the co-founding CEO and the chief finance officer.” But it’s just the latest example of a failed policy targeting criminal kingpins “on the premise that the best way to undermine a cartel is to decapitate it,” writes Ed Vulliamy in the Guardian.
Meet the Chelemeras: Mayan women who restore mangrove’s in Mexico’s Yucatán, an internationally lauded reforestation project that targets these life-sheltering, shoreline-protecting ecosystems — Americas Quarterly
Argentina
Argentine President Javier Milei promised to scrap export taxes and rescue Argentina’s key agricultural industry, speaking to struggling farmers impatient with his government’s lack of economic progress. (Associated Press)
Olympics
Argentina has become the Olympics’ favorite villain, getting booed in stadiums around France — the New York Times analyzes why.