Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has insisted his party is ready to present all the vote tallies from his country’s disputed election after election observers said it “could not be considered democratic”.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) declaration that Mr Maduro won has sparked two days of protests, with the country’s opposition saying voting tallies show its candidate, Edmundo González, won by a wide margin.
NGOs say there have been at least 11 deaths in protest-related violence and that dozens more have been injured.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Mr Maduro said again that his government’s reason for not publishing the electoral results was because of a “hack” on the electoral council website.
He also claimed he had “proof” that the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was behind “violence”.
He alleged that protesters were “attacking” the constitution and asked the Supreme Court to take action, which could pave the way for more mass arrests of opposition figures or protesters.
Top US diplomat for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said the evidence showed President Maduro overwhelmingly lost by “millions” of votes – endorsing vote tallies released by his opponents.
“The tabulation of these detailed results clearly show an irrefutable result: Edmundo Gonzalez won with 67% of these votes compared to 30% for Maduro,” he said in remarks at an Organisation of American States (OAS) meeting, AFP reported.
“While not a total result, there are not enough votes in remaining tally sheets… to overcome such a deficit,” he continued.
Earlier on Wednesday the US-based Carter Center – which was invited by Venezuelan officials to monitor Sunday’s presidential poll – said it could not “verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by CNE”.
The Carter Center also said that the CNE’s failure to announce the detailed results by polling station “constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles”.
It added that the CNE had “demonstrated a clear bias in favour of the incumbent [President Nicolás Maduro]” and accused the CNE of a “complete lack of transparency in announcing the results”.
The opposition have said they’ve obtained the majority of receipts from electronic voting machines which prove they won the election with 70% of the vote.
With its statement, the Carter Center has joined a long list of countries and organisations pressuring the CNE to release detailed voting data at the polling station level, among them the US, Brazil and the EU.
The US state department said the international community was running out of patience waiting for Venezuelan electoral authorities to release full detailed data on their country’s election.
The Carter Center statement is embarrassing for the Maduro government because its observers had been complimentary about the Venezuelan electoral system in the past.
President Maduro has often quoted a remark by the Carter Center’s founder, former US President Jimmy Carter, who in 2012 said that “of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world”.
More than 1,000 people have so far been detained, according to Venezuela’s attorney general, who also said that two members of the security forces had died in the protests.
Ms Machado has urged her supporters to remain peaceful even if provoked by the government and its allies.
On Tuesday, a close ally of President Maduro, National Assembly leader Jorge Rodríguez, called for the arrest of Ms Machado and Mr González, accusing them of leading a “fascist conspiracy”.
President Maduro told the media on Wednesday Ms Machado and Mr González “should be behind bars”, AFP reported.
The Costa Rican foreign minister later offered Ms Machado and Mr González political asylum, saying that his government “had been informed of arrest warrants” against the two.
Ms Machado thanked the Costa Rican government but said that it was her “responsibility to continue this struggle alongside the people”.
In a separate social media post late on Wednesday, Ms Machado urged her supporters to “mobilise”.
She wrote on X: “It’s time to trust in each other. To stay active and firm.
“It took time to win; now it’s time to collect.”
Follow us on:
The CAC has removed dormant companies that failed to file annual reports for 10 years…
NEC has set a one-week deadline for Kwara, Kebbi, and Adamawa to submit state police…
Amazon may face an EU investigation over preferential treatment of its own products under the…
https://cdn.veri.app/a21afe40-c7c7-4a5c-b145-4fc72382ab4b.mp4 Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, during the night of tribute, held in honour of the…
The Kano State government has reunited 79 pardoned minors accused of looting in the #End…
Matt Gaetz has announced that he is withdrawing his name from consideration as Donald Trump’s…
View Comments
O--8--0--67__39-_90--90
!! GREETINGS!!! GREETINGS!!!
✅Very Sharp Super Clean Direct Tokumbo
✅CONDITION; Super Clean, Strictly Buy And Drive, Nothing To Fix.Royal umbrella=20,000
Mama Gold=20,000
Royal stallion=20,000
Rising sun=20,000
Special rice=10,500
Mama Africa=20,000
Elephant Gold=20,000
Caprice =20,000
TRANSPORTATION CHARGES IS (#1,500)
Golf4= ₦400,000.
Golf 5= 500,00p
Toyota Camry Tiny light= ₦5500,000
Toyota Camry big Daddy= ₦800,000
Toyota muscle= ₦1,200,000
Toyota picnic= 700,000
Toyota Sienna= ₦1.000,000
Toyota Corolla= ₦800,000
Toyota Yaris= ₦700,000
Toyota Matrix= ₦850,000 Toyota Rav4= N800,000 Toyota 4Runner= N1,000,000 Toyota Avalon= N800,000 Toyota Avensis= N850,000 Toyota Hiacebus= N4,000,000 Toyota venza= N3,500,000 TOYOTA Hilux = 2.3 MILLION
Honda Accord EOD= ₦650,000
Honda City= ₦600,000
Honda CR-V= ₦750,000.
Honda Odyssey= ₦900,000
Honda Pilot= ₦950,000 Honda accord= N700,000 Honda civil= N500,000 Honda Evilspirit= N800,000
Lexus ES350=4m
Mazda=1m
Nissan primera =₦650
Nissan Xterra=#2.5m
Hyundai Tucson #4m
Nissan Micra #500,000
Mini bus #500,000
Peugeot 206#650e.t.c.08O67399O90) (+234_80__6739-9090))