While Vice President Kamala Harris seemed to endorse the outcome of the Venezuelan election, which officials claim show Maduro winning with 51 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez’ 44 percent.
So far, official U.S. communication has cast doubt on the result, with other countries, including neighbors Argentina and Peru, outright denying the results altogether. As of this writing, Venezuela remains in flux as protests continue to increase in number and size, starting in Caracas, the capital, and spreading to many other parts of the country.
Venezuela on a knife-edge as opposition accuses Maduro of rigging election
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Excerpt from amp.theguardian.com
Nicolás Maduro’s claim of victory in Venezuela’s presidential election has brought the South American country to a hazardous standoff, with his thwarted opponents accusing him of rigging the election to remain in power, and many leaders in the region and beyond questioning the veracity and transparency of the vote.
Sunday’s results, which followed an election described by independent observers as the most arbitrary in recent years – even by the standards of the authoritarian regime founded by Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chávez – appeared to have dashed opposition hopes of ending a quarter of a century of chavista rule and economic turmoil.
After a six-hour delay in releasing the results prompted international concern, the government-controlled electoral authority claimed Maduro had won with 51.21% of votes compared with 44.2% for his rival, the former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia.
The council said that with about 80% of votes counted, Maduro had secured more than 5m compared with González’s 4.4m. Authorities delayed releasing the results from each of Venezuela’s 30,000 polling stations, saying only that they would be released in the “coming hours”.
Venezuelan protests against Maduro spread, opposition says it has proof it won the election
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Excerpt from www.reuters.com
Opponents and supporters of Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro planned to rally on Tuesday as protests and clashes spread after a weekend election was awarded to the long-ruling socialist despite opposition claims of a landslide victory.The renewed instability brought divided international reaction: the United States said Maduro’s reelection had no credibility and was mulling more sanctions, while China and Russia congratulated him.Protests began after the election board declared on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of votes to extend his “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.The opposition, which considers the election body in the pockets of a dictatorial government, said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Maduro.Venezuela opposition party Voluntad Popular said on Tuesday on X that its national coordinator Freddy Superlano had been detained.
Maduro declared winner in Venezuela’s presidential election as opposition claims irregularities
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Excerpt from www.euronews.com
That decision sets up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.
Shortly after midnight on Sunday, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González, who garnered 44%.
However, the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn’t immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide – hampering the opposition’s ability to challenge the results after claiming it had data for only 30% of the ballot boxes.
Venezuela election results: Nicolas Maduro and opposition both claim victory
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Excerpt from amp.cnn.com
Both Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and his political opponent claimed victory in the country’s election on Monday, a vote that was marked by accusations of fraud and counting irregularities.
With 80% of votes counted, Maduro secured more than 51% of the vote, beating the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo González Urrutia with his more than 44% of the vote, according to a statement by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
The United States and multiple global leaders voiced skepticism about official results handing presidential election victory to the strongman leader.
Claims of election irregularities started to emerge on Sunday evening as the votes were being counted — including opposition witnesses being denied access to the CNE headquarters as the authority counted votes, and the CNE allegedly halting data being sent from local polling stations to their central location to prevent more votes from being processed…
Opposition leader María Corina Machado said in a news conference that their own records showed their candidate Edmundo González Urrutia had received 70% of the vote against Maduro’s 30%.
“We won, and 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 at the news conference, alleged that rules had been violated during the election.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro wins re-election, as opposition disputes results
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Excerpt from www.foxnews.com
The National Electoral Council said at around midnight that Maduro received 51% of the vote, while the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González, had 44% support, according to The Associated Press.
Elvis Amoroso, head of the National Electoral Council, said the results were based on 80% of voting stations and represented an irreversible trend.
Despite Maduro being declared the winner of a third term, the opposition claimed victory, setting up a showdown with the government over the results.
Kamala Claims That Venezuela Has Spoken — in Maduro’s Rigged Election
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Excerpt from pjmedia.com
While admitting that Venezuela still faces “challenges,” Harris vowed U.S. backing for “the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election.” Someone needs to tell the cackling Communist that the election expresses the will of the socialist government in Venezuela, not the people it tyrannizes — unless she is too dumb to realize she was being complimentary, which, of course, is always an option.
Harris did not mention Maduro by name in her statement but did pretend that the election results were true indicators of democratically exercised opinions from Venezuelans. Harris posted on July 28, “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela.”
Opposition Disputes Maduro’s Victory; Says Venezuela Knows what Happened
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Excerpt from www.occrp.org
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council reported that Maduro had secured 51% of the votes, while his main challenger Emundo González received 44%. This means Maduro will remain in power for the next six years, having already held the position for the previous 11.
The announcement was first rejected by Maria Corina Machado, leader of the opposition, who had been prevented from participating in the elections and endorsed González, the candidate registered by a coalition of opposition parties led by her.
“We want to tell all Venezuelans and the rest of the world that Venezuela has a new president, and he is Edmundo González Urrutia,” Machado declared.
She stated that González’s landslide victory showed that the people had decided to end 25 years of government under the so-called Chavismo, which was established in 1999 by Hugo Chávez, the predecessor and political mentor of Nicolás Maduro.
“This has been so overwhelming, so significant, that we have won in all sectors, strata, and states of the country,” said Machado. “Venezuelans and the whole world know what happened,” added González.
World leaders cast doubt on Venezuela election results, Maduro victory claim
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Excerpt from www.washingtonpost.com
Some Latin American countries, including Colombia and Brazil, which have friendly ties to Maduro, joined in the skepticism about the announced results, as did Spain, Italy and other European nations…
… Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea accused Maduro’s regime of having the “intention of fraud” and recalled Peru’s ambassador to Venezuela for consultations. “Peru will not accept the violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people,” he said on X.
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also issued calls for a transparent count of the votes by independent observers.
Blinken says US has ‘serious concerns’ about announced result of Venezuelan election
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Excerpt from abcnews.go.com
TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has ‘serious concerns’ about the announced result of Venezuela’s hotly contested presidential election that authorities say was won by incumbent Nicolas Maduro.
Speaking in Tokyo on Monday shortly after the announcement was made, Blinken said the U.S. was concerned that the result reflected neither the will nor the votes of the Venezuelan people. He called for election officials to publish the full results transparently and immediately and said the U.S. and the international community would respond accordingly.
“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,” Blinken said.
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Excerpt from www.timesnownews.com
Doubts of Counting, Fraud Allegations
The council didn’t release tallies from the 30,000 polling booths, promising to do so “in the coming hours,” which hindered result verification. The delay, six hours after polls closed, suggested internal government debates, while Maduro’s opponents claimed early evening victory. Maduro later celebrated the results, accusing unidentified foreign enemies of hacking attempts. Opposition representatives asserted their tallies showed González trouncing Maduro…
More than 9 million people cast ballots on Sunday, with 17 million eligible voters. Another 4 million Venezuelans registered abroad mostly couldn’t vote due to registration issues.
U.S. officials defend their Venezuela strategy after Maduro claims election victory
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Excerpt from amp.miamiherald.com
The Biden administration was on the defensive Monday over its policy bet that elections in Venezuela would dislodge strongman Nicolás Maduro, a day after he was declared the winner in presidential elections despite several irregularities and polls indicating his defeat. In a call with reporters, senior administration officials fielded questions about what the United States would do next and whether the Biden administration’s negotiations with Maduro, which included lifting some oil sanctions and releasing prisoners, had failed to deliver democratic change in the South American country.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article290540384.html#storylink=cpy
