Washington: The United States on Thursday officially recognised Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's rival and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of the recent disputed presidential election, rejecting Maduro's claim of victory. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was "overwhelming evidence" to support Gonzalez's victory and rejected Maduro's allegations against opposition leaders.
Blinken said the election results in favour of Maduro's victory were "deeply flawed" and did not represent the will of the Venezuelan people. He said the country's National Electoral Council (CNE) had not published disaggregated data or any of the vote tally sheets, despite repeated calls from Venezuelans and the international community, and reiterated the US-based Carter Centre's observations that the vote was "undemocratic".
"Meanwhile, the democratic opposition has published more than 80 per cent of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela. Those tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin. Independent observers have corroborated these facts, and this outcome was also supported by election day exit polls and quick counts," he said in the statement.
'Overwhelming evidence' in Gonzalez's favour
"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election," Blinken added, slamming Maduro's threats to arrest Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as an "undemocratic" attempt to repress political participation.
"We congratulate Edmundo González Urrutia on his successful campaign. Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people. We fully support the process of re-establishing democratic norms in Venezuela and stand ready to consider ways to bolster it jointly with our international partners," said the top US diplomat.
The dispute over the presidential election results has sparked protests in Venezuela. Venezuela's electoral council proclaimed Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, the winner of the July 28 election with 51 per cent of the vote, despite an overwhelming number of exit polls predicting the victory of Gonzalez. The opposition says its tally of 90 per cent of the votes shows that Gonzalez received more than double the support of the incumbent president.
Brazil, Mexico and Colombia pressure Venezuela
The US was considering fresh sanctions on Venezuela following disputed results in the country's presidential election, with measures to be released if Maduro fails to comply with Washington's demands for greater transparency on the vote counting, according to a Reuters report citing people familiar with discussions. However, Blinken's statement did not mention any such sanctions.
Many countries and election observers have since Sunday called for the complete results to be published before they will recognise the outcome. In a briefing on Monday, senior US officials said that electoral manipulation had stripped Maduro's claim of victory of "any credibility," and left the door open to new sanctions.
Meanwhile, Brazil, Mexico and Colombia called for Venezuela to release detailed voting tallies on Thursday. Results should be verified impartially, the countries said, and all political actors should avoid an escalation of violence and electoral controversies should be solved via institutions.
Protests in Venezuela
In response to election-related criticism, Venezuela has expelled diplomats from Argentina and five other countries - Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. Caracas and Lima expelled each other's diplomats after Peru recognized Gonzalez as Venezuela's elected president.
The disputed election has led to deadly protests that Maduro and his allies in the military have denounced as an attempted coup. Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday it had received reports of 20 deaths in post-election demonstrations. The protests closed shops and caused cuts to public transport around Venezuela, which is mired in a deep and lengthy economic crisis marked by high inflation.
(with inputs from agency)
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