Caracas: Venezuela faced a political standstill Monday after both incumbent President Nicolas Maduro and the country's main opposition coalition claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election. Maduro considers the results of the election a settled matter. But opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez told a news conference that his campaign has the proof it needs to show that he was the winner of the election.
Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told supporters gathered outside his campaign headquarters in Caracas that they have obtained more than 70 per cent of the tally sheets from Sunday’s disputed election, and they show Gonzalez ahead of Maduro.
The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to the ruling party, said Maduro secured 51 per cent of the vote while Gonzalez garnered 44 per cent. The electoral body, however, did not release the tallies from any machine, promising early Monday only to do so in the “coming hours,” hampering the ability to verify the results. In December, the last time Venezuelans were summoned to the polls, electoral authorities never released the tallies after claiming that more than 10 million voters cast ballots in a referendum over a territorial dispute with Guyana.
Here's what to know about Venezuela’s presidential election and what's next:
How does voting work in Venezuela?
Venezuelans vote using electronic machines, which record votes and provide every voter with a paper receipt that shows the candidate of their choice. Voters are supposed to deposit their receipts at ballot boxes before exiting the polls. After polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing the candidates’ names and the votes they received. But the ruling party wields tight control over the voting system, both through a loyal five-member electoral council and a network of longtime local party coordinators who get near unrestricted access to voting centres. Those coordinators, some of whom are responsible for handing out government benefits including subsidised food, have blocked representatives of opposition parties from entering voting centres as allowed by law to witness the voting process, vote counting and, crucially, to obtain a copy of the machines’ final tally sheet.
After Sunday’s results were announced, Machado said the margin of Gonzalez’s victory was “overwhelming” based on voting tallies it had received from campaign representatives from about 40 per cent of ballot boxes nationwide. Hours later, National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso formally declared Maduro as the winner, but the electoral body's website was down, and it remained unclear when the tallies would be available. The lack of tallies prompted an independent group of electoral observers to publicly urge the entity to release them.
How many people voted in the Venezuela elections?
More than 9 million people cast ballots on Sunday, according to figures released by Amoroso. The number of eligible voters for this election was estimated to be around 17 million. Another 4 million Venezuelans are registered to vote, but they live abroad and many did not meet the requirements to register to cast ballots overseas. Voters started lining up at some voting centres as early as on Saturday evening across the country, sharing water, coffee and snacks for several hours.
In the months leading up to the highly anticipated election, government supporters and opponents alike expressed a desire for government changes, often citing their deep discontent with a crisis-wrecked economy that does not allow them to afford food and other basic needs, pushing millions to emigrate.
Was the election fair?
A fair presidential election seemed like a possibility last year, when Maduro's government agreed to work with the US-backed Unitary Platform coalition to improve electoral conditions. But hopes for a level playing field began fading days later, when authorities said the opposition’s October primary was against the law and later began issuing warrants and arresting human rights defenders, journalists and opposition members. Gonzalez, a former diplomat, appeared on the ballot because Venezuela's top court blocked the presidential candidacy of Machado, who swept the coalition's primary with more than 90 per cent of support.
Thousands of opposition supporters had agreed to mobilise and assist voters throughout Election Day, and the Gonzalez-Machado campaign was banking on their efforts to get people to the polls to vote as well as to deter government actors from intimidating or coercing voters.
Across the country, many of those supporters followed the campaign's instructions to remain at the polls long after they closed in hopes that their sheer presence could help minimise any ruling party efforts to deny opposition representatives access to the tally sheets.
A UN-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela earlier this year reported that the government had increased repression of critics and opponents ahead of the election, subjecting targets to detention, surveillance, threats, defamatory campaigns and arbitrary criminal proceedings.
What can the opposition do?
The opposition's campaign early on Monday asked voters to remain calm and avoid any violent demonstrations, but it did not offer any specific steps it would follow to demonstrate its claim to victory. "The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” Gonzalez said in his first remarks. Later Monday, Gonzalez said his campaign had the proof it needed to show that he was the winner of Sunday’s election. Gonzalez and Machado told reporters they have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets, and they show Gonzalez ahead of Maduro.
“I speak to you with the calmness of the truth,” Gonzalez said as dozens of supporters gathered outside campaign headquarters in the capital, Caracas. “I want to tell you… that the will expressed yesterday through your vote will be respected… We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our victory.” As they spoke, thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest what they said was an attempt by Maduro to steal the election.
In the streets near Caracas’ largest low-income neighbourhood, Petare, demonstrators shouted against the government, and some, wearing masks, tore down campaign posters of Maduro hung on lampposts. Heavily armed security forces stood just a few blocks away from the protest. “It’s going to fall. It’s going to fall. This government is going to fall!” shouted some of the protesters. Before Amoroso had announced results, some opposition supporters who believed Gonzalez would be declared winner had begun shouting the well-known chat but in past tense.
Why are Venezuelans protesting?
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. Many Venezuelans staged "cacerolazos", a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger. Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. "We are tired of this government, we want a change. We want to be free in Venezuela. We want our families to return here," said one masked protester, referring to the exodus of about a third of Venezuelans in recent years.
"I'll fight for my country's democracy. They stole the election from us," said another. Police with shields and batons in Caracas and the city of Maracay fired tear gas to disperse some protests.
Many demonstrators rode motorbikes and jammed streets or draped themselves in the Venezuelan flag. Some covered their faces with scarves as protection against tear gas. The government calls them violent agitators. "We've seen this movie before," said Maduro from the presidential palace, pledging that security forces would keep the peace. "We have been following all of the acts of violence promoted by the extreme right."
(With inputs from agency)
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