Venezuela’s National Electoral Council today confirmed Nicolás Maduro’s victory in the presidential elections, in a second official results bulletin with 96.87% of the votes counted but without publishing the disaggregated data, one of the demands of the opposition and the international community.
Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have asked for the publication of information on the July 28 elections, and on Friday they increased the pressure by asking Maduro and his main opponent, Edmundo González, to meet, he told Reuters a diplomatic source close to the negotiations.
The governments of those three nations want the president and Gonzalez to meet without opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, the source in Brasilia added.
(Photo: Presidency)
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Foreign Affairs Committees of the United States Congress and legislative bodies across Europe condemned the Venezuelan government’s handling of the elections, according to a statement seen by Reutersan unprecedented show of unity aimed at pressuring Caracas to release the full count.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on Friday on his X account that from his “position as a ruler” he should “respect Venezuela’s self-determination.”
“I am seeking diplomatic and political avenues to stop, through dialogue, a humanitarian catastrophe in our sister country (…) A humanitarian catastrophe in Venezuela becomes a humanitarian catastrophe in Colombia,” he added.
At least 2.8 million Venezuelans live in Colombia, part of a wave of migration of almost 8 million people fleeing the political and economic crisis in the oil-producing country.
The CNE confirmed Maduro’s victory on Friday by publishing a second bulletin, after the original one from early Monday morning, with 96.87% of the voting records.
Maduro obtained 6.4 million votes or 51.95%, while Gonzalez got 5.3 million votes or 43.18%, said the president of the Council, Elvis Amoroso, reading the bulletin.
The opposition says its tally of about 90% of the votes shows Gonzalez with more than double the support of the president, a level similar to independent polls before the election.
Maduro filed an appeal for protection against the verification of the results with the Supreme Court on Wednesday, and the court responded a day later that it admitted the request and summoned the 10 candidates, including the president and Gonzalez, to testify on Friday afternoon.
Maduro and eight other former candidates attended the event, but Gonzalez, a 74-year-old former diplomat whom Maduro has called a coward and said should be behind bars, did not attend.
“I hope that this matter (in the Supreme Court) is not used as a way for the CNE to hide behind the robes of the magistrates,” said Enrique Márquez, one of the former candidates cited in court.
Celso Amorim, who was foreign minister and was in Venezuela during the elections on behalf of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, had said in an interview with RedeTV! on Thursday evening that the Brazilian government was “disappointed” by the delay in the publication of the results.
At a press conference at the Government House, Maduro said that he had spoken by telephone 15 days ago with Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, but that he maintained permanent contact with one of his advisors and with the foreign minister, Mauro Vieira.
He added that “we are the only guarantee that international investors who want to produce oil and gas have. The only guarantee (…) of peace and stability.”
The president also said that sources knew that “a new ambush” could take place on Saturday at a point in eastern Caracas near where the opposition is planning a rally led by Machado and González, but he did not give details.
-With information from the Reuters agency.
