This is a new political crisis in a country already plagued by instability. While President Nicolas Maduro was officially re-elected as head of Venezuela on Monday, July 28, the opposition also claimed victory and rejected the results proclaimed by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which it said were marred by numerous irregularities. Since then, the streets have been ablaze, even causing one death in the state of Yaracuy, in the northwest of the country. L’Express takes stock of the situation.
Nicolas Maduro re-elected for a third term
He has been in power for 11 years, but Nicolas Maduro seems unshakeable. On Sunday, July 28, just after midnight, the president of the National Electoral Council and Chavista activist, Elvis Amoroso, stated: with 5.15 million votes (51.2%), Nicolas Maduro was re-elected for a third term, and the trend was “irreversible.” His opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, reportedly obtained “only” 4.45 million, or 44% of the vote. However, the economic record of Hugo Chaves’ heir is far from stellar: the GDP of the country, long considered one of the richest in Latin America, has collapsed by 80%, according to The echoes. To the point that more than 7.7 million people have left the country since 2015, or more than one in four Venezuelans, according to UN estimates.
Why the opposition is contesting
“Venezuela has a new elected president and it is Edmundo Gonzalez.” On the evening of the election, Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the opposition, contested the results of the vote, believing that it was flawed. The reasons: the failure to publish the counts by polling station, or intimidation of citizens in some polling stations, reported by the local press. According to the opposition, the result is all the more questionable since all the polls gave Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia the clear winner, with 65% of the vote.
The international community is also cautious. While Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay have demanded “a complete review of the results with the presence of independent electoral observers” and a meeting under the auspices of the Organization of American States, the United States has stated that it “fears that the announced result does not reflect the will or the vote of the Venezuelan people.” Contrary to these countries, Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador has declared that his government will recognize the final result proclaimed by the electoral authority.
On Monday, Elvis Amoroso denounced a brutal attack on the computerized voting system to explain the delay in the results. The country’s prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation, citing the involvement of Maria Corina Machado in this “hacking”. For her part, the opposition leader affirmed that “proof of victory” had been provided to “leaders” in the world and that it would be put online for everyone soon.
What is the situation on the streets of Caracas?
Posters of the president burned, tear gas thrown… Since Monday, the streets of Caracas have been ablaze. “Let him give up power now,” shouted thousands of demonstrators in several poor neighborhoods of the capital, while other demonstrators chanted “I don’t want bonuses, I don’t want CLAP, I want Maduro to go,” referring to the aid established for low wages and food aid (CLAP) distributed by the government.
Elsewhere in the country, the protests turned into tragedy. “At least one person was killed in (the state of) Yaracuy (northwest) and 46 people are detained,” wrote Alfredo Romero, director of the NGO Foro Penal, which specializes in defending political prisoners, on X. Two statues of Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, were also toppled in La Guaira (Caracas beach) and Mariara (north) by protesters, his designated heir Nicolas Maduro announced on television.