Caracas, Venezuela
CNN
—
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his political opponents claimed victory in the country's election on Monday, which was marked by heavy allegations of fraud and tallying irregularities.
According to a statement from the National Electoral Commission (CNE), with 80% of the votes counted, Maduro had received more than 51% of the vote, beating Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia's more than 44%.
U.S. and several world leaders expressed skepticism that the official results of the presidential election would represent a victory for an autocratic leader.
Allegations of electoral fraud began to emerge Sunday evening as the votes were being counted, including that opposition witnesses were denied access to the CNE headquarters while authorities were counting the votes, and that the CNE allegedly stopped transmitting data from regional polling stations to the central one to prevent further vote processing.
The CNE has been criticized by some international organizations for lacking impartiality.
The US State Department expressed concern last year about “ongoing efforts to change the composition” of the CNE, while the European Parliament passed a resolution in February accusing the Maduro regime of making changes to the CNE “with the aim of disrupting the electoral process and quashing any possibility of a return to democracy.”
CNN has contacted CNE, which has not responded to the opposition's claims.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told a news conference that according to the opposition's own records, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received 70% of the vote to Maduro's 30%.
“We won, everyone knows it,” Machado said, adding that the opposition would “defend the truth.”
“The entire international community knows what happened in Venezuela and how people voted for change,” she said.
Gonzalez, who was also present at the press conference, alleged that rules were broken during the election.
If Maduro becomes president, it will be his third consecutive six-year term and will see the continuation of “Chavismo,” a left-wing populist ideology named after his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
Chavez ruled Venezuela for 14 years until his death in 2013. His policies were centered on nationalization and redistribution of the country's vast oil wealth to the poorest and most marginalized groups, as well as a relentless effort to defend Venezuela's sovereignty against “imperialist” powers.
But the oil-rich country has been going through its worst peacetime economic crisis in recent years, with Maduro blaming foreign sanctions against his government and saying Venezuela is the victim of an “economic war.”
The opposition, which has gained momentum in the election and poses the biggest threat to Maduro's grip on power in years, has promised to restore democracy in Venezuela and rebuild the economy if it wins.
But the Maduro regime controls all public institutions, including Venezuela's Supreme Court, which could be the final arbiter on allegations of electoral fraud, raising fears among the opposition that a fair election will not be held.
The government has been accused of voter fraud in the past, charges it denies.
An election defeat could be devastating for Maduro, who is facing drug trafficking and corruption charges in the United States and is under investigation for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. Giving up power could mean imprisonment.
Efforts to sway the election results in Maduro's favor began long before polling stations opened on Sunday.
A Laboratorio de Paz report released on Monday said at least 71 people were arbitrarily detained during the election campaign, most of them after providing some kind of service to the opposition.
The government has also placed significant obstacles on the way for millions of Venezuelans living abroad to vote, including making it nearly impossible to obtain passports or residency. According to data released by the CNE, only 69,211 Venezuelans abroad are eligible to vote in this year's elections.
Only a limited number of election observers were allowed to monitor the vote, and Venezuela withdrew an invitation for EU observers to visit the country.
A small team from the Carter Center will be conducting the observations and their findings are due to be released shortly, but the center said in advance that the team's relatively small size would prevent it from providing a comprehensive look at the process on Election Day.
Matthias Delacroix/AP
Voters look at the electoral roll before a polling station opens for the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024.
Tears and blessings
Voters turned out in large numbers, many saying they would leave the country if Maduro wins, pointing to violent repression and economic collapse under his rule.
During his two terms in office, Maduro has already seen unprecedented levels of poverty and migration, with shortages of basic goods and soaring inflation forcing some eight million Venezuelans to flee the country.
Once the fifth-largest economy in Latin America, Venezuela's economy has shrunk to the size of a mid-sized city smaller than Milwaukee, for example, according to data from the International Monetary Fund.
Maduro has blamed the economic collapse on sanctions imposed on his government by the United States and other Western countries.
After the results were announced, President Maduro called it a “victory for peace, stability, republican ideals and the cause of equality.”
“They could not survive sanctions. They could not survive aggression and threats. They cannot and will never be able to survive the dignity of the Venezuelan people,” the president said of his political opponents in his speech.
The results announced by electoral authorities stirred mixed emotions in the capital, Caracas, where Maduro's supporters cheered and celebrated outside the presidential palace, while opposition supporters were seen crying and hugging each other in the streets.
Matthias Delacroix/AP
Voters line up before a polling station opens in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 28, 2024.
After the CNE announced Maduro's victory, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concern that the results announced do not reflect the will and vote of the Venezuelan people.”
He added that it was “vital” that the votes were counted fairly and transparently, and called on the CNE to make the results public.
The EU's top diplomat, Josep Borrell Fonteles, said the will of the Venezuelan people “must be respected.”
“It is vital that we have full transparency in the electoral process, including detailed tallying of votes and access to voting records at polling stations,” he said in a statement posted on X.
Meanwhile, the UK updated its travel advice on Monday, advising British nationals in the South American country to “stay at home if possible”.
“The UK does not recognise the legitimacy of the current government installed by Nicolas Maduro,” the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said.
The opposition's rebuke may cast doubt on Venezuela's return to the international stage, after Maduro promised last year to hold free and fair elections in U.S.-brokered talks in exchange for sanctions relief.
The results again drew mixed reactions across the region. The presidents of Peru, Chile, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Argentina and Uruguay all denounced or questioned the outcome, with some saying they would not recognize Maduro's victory. Ahead of the election, many Latin American leaders had called on Maduro to promise to step down if he lost.
But some of Venezuela's partners, including the presidents of Bolivia, Honduras and Cuba, congratulated Maduro on his victory.
Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Maduro on his re-election.
“Russian-Venezuelan relations have the character of a strategic partnership. I am sure that your activities as head of state will continue to contribute to the progressive development of our two countries in all directions,” Putin said in a statement posted by the Kremlin on its Telegram channel.
China's foreign ministry also sent its congratulations to Maduro on Monday. “China attaches great importance to the development of China-Venezuela relations and is willing to work with Venezuela to continuously enhance the connotations of the China-Venezuela all-weather strategic partnership and further benefit the two peoples,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a ministry regular briefing.
A government statement shared online by Venezuela's foreign minister early Sunday night condemned foreign “interference” in the election and criticized a number of countries that criticized the results, including Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala and Peru.
