Nicolás Maduro
‘Hard to believe’: Venezuela election result met with suspicion abroad
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| Nicolás Maduro |
Nicolás Maduro faces calls to publish transparent breakdown of vote but allies hail his apparent victory
Nicolás Maduro’s apparent re-election as Venezuela’s president has been met with scepticism, suspicion and calls for a transparent and detailed breakdown of the vote in Sunday’s controversial poll.
Although the results, released by the government-controlled electoral authority, were immediately hailed by Maduro’s allies in Latin America, they drew a guarded and often accusatory response from others in the region and farther afield.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Washington had “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people”.
He said the international community was watching the vote “very closely” and would react accordingly.
“It’s critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that the electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes,” said Blinken.
Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, also called on the electoral authority to release voting information in the interests of “respecting the democratic will” of the Venezuelan people.
“The people of Venezuela yesterday voted democratically and in very large numbers,” Albares told Spain’s Cadena Ser radio on Monday morning. “We want total transparency and that’s why we’re asking for the results to be published, polling station by polling station. We don’t have a candidate – we just want a guarantee of transparency. The publication of polling station information is key so that the results can be verified.”
Albares also urged “calm and civic responsibility” as the results were properly examined.
Josep Borrell, the EU’s most senior diplomat and also a former Spanish foreign minister, said the will of the Venezuelan people had to be respected, adding: “Ensuring full transparency in the electoral process, including detailed counting of votes and access to voting records at polling stations, is vital.”
The UK Foreign Office said Britain was “concerned by allegations of serious irregularities in the counting and declared results of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela. We call for the swift and transparent publication of full, detailed results to ensure that the outcome reflects the votes of the Venezuelan people.”
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said he had “many doubts” about Maduro’s apparent re-election. “We ask for verifiable results and access to documents,” he said on X. “Does the result announcing Maduro’s victory really reflect the will of the people?”
Many Latin American leaders, including Chile’s leftist president, Gabriel Boric, were far blunter in their assessment of Sunday’s vote.
“Maduro’s regime must understand that the results are hard to believe,” Boric wrote on X. “The international community and, above all, the Venezuelan people – including the millions of Venezuelans in exile – demand total transparency.” Chile, he added, “will not recognise any result that is not verifiable”.
An even more direct response came from Luis Lacalle Pou, the president of Uruguay.
“Not like that! It was an open secret that they were going to ‘win’ whatever the real results were,” he said on X. “The process, right up to the day of the election and the count itself, was clearly corrupt. You can’t recognise a win if you can’t trust the forms and mechanisms used to bring it about.”
Daniel Noboa, the president of Ecuador, accused Maduro of trying to cling to power and “snatching away the hope of millions of Venezuelans”. He also called for the permanent council of the Organization of American States to meet to discuss the situation in Venezuela.
Bernardo Arévalo, Guatemala’s centrist president, said Venezuela deserved “transparent, accurate results” in accordance with the will of the people.
“We receive the results announced by the electoral authority with many doubts,” he said. “This is why electoral observation mission reports are essential, and today more than ever, must defend Venezuelans’ votes.”
Peru’s foreign minister, Javier González-Olaechea, expressed his “utter condemnation of the totality of the fraud-driven irregularities by the Venezuelan government. Peru, he added, would not stand for the “violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people”.
Argentina’s populist, firebrand president, Javier Milei, was characteristically insistent.
“GET OUT, MADURO, YOU DICTATOR!!!” he wrote on X. “Venezuelans chose to put an end to Nicolás Maduro’s communist dictatorship. The data shows a crushing opposition victory and the world is waiting for the defeat of years of socialism, misery, decadence and death to be recognised.”
Milei said Argentina would not recognise “another fraud” and said he hoped Venezuela’s armed forces would “defend democracy and the will of the people”.
The government of Costa Rica described the proclamation of Maduro’s victory as “fraudulent”, adding that it would work with others to ensure “the sacred will of the Venezuelan people is respected”.
Not all Latin American leaders were troubled by the result – some were delighted at the seeming triumph of the regime established by the late Hugo Chávez.
“Nicolás Maduro, my brother, your victory – which is the victory of the Bolivarian and chavista people – has cleanly and unequivocally vanquished the pro-imperialist opposition,” said Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
“And it has also defeated the meddling, Monroeist regional right. The people spoke and the revolution won.”
Luis Arce, Bolivia’s leftwing president, congratulated Maduro on his victory, adding that it was a “magnificent way to commemorate Comandante Hugo Chávez”, who would have turned 70 on Sunday.
“We have closely followed this democratic festival and we salute the fact that the will of the Venezuelan people has been respected at the ballot box,” Arce added.
Xiomara Castro, the president of Honduras, also congratulated Maduro, sending her government’s “special congratulations and democratic, socialist and revolutionary greetings” to him and to the Venezuelan people on their “uncontested triumph, which reaffirms their sovereignty and the historic legacy of Comandante Hugo Chávez”.
Maduro’s re-election was also welcomed by Vladimir Putin, who offered his personal congratulations.
“I am confident that your activities at the head of state will continue to contribute to their progressive development in all directions,” the Russian president said, according to a Kremlin statement on Monday morning.
“This fully meets the interests of our friendly peoples and is in line with building a more just and democratic world order … Remember that you are always a welcome guest on Russian soil.”
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