- Pressure on Nicolás Maduro grows <unk> US does not recognize his election victory
The USA does not recognize the official re-election of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the election, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement. By doing so, the United States increases international pressure on the authoritarian ruling socialist Maduro. The latter threatened tough action after demonstrations.
Results from polling stations are missing
After the election at the end of July, the government-loyal electoral commission declared the incumbent state chief Maduro the winner. However, it has not yet published the detailed results of the individual polling stations.
The opposition accuses the government of election fraud and claims victory for González. As evidence, it published data that it says comes from more than 80 percent of the polling stations. According to this, González received 67 percent of the votes and Maduro only 30 percent.
At least eleven people died in protests against the election results, according to the independent organization Foro Penal. Maduro said on the balcony of the presidential palace in a speech to supporters, as shown on state television, that 1,200 "criminals" had been arrested and another 1,000 would follow.
"There will be no forgiveness"
He said they were troublemakers who were trained in the USA, Colombia, Chile, and Peru as part of a coup attempt against him. Two high-security prisons would soon be ready for them. "There will be no forgiveness," Maduro said in another speech to businesspeople.
Previously, Maduro said that González and opposition leader María Corina Machado also belonged in prison. Machado wrote in a contribution to the US newspaper "Wall Street Journal" that she was in hiding and feared for her freedom and life. In a video distributed via social media, she called for nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, to which entire families should participate.
Machado could not run for office herself because she was banned from exercising public office for 15 years due to alleged irregularities from her time as a member of parliament. The opposition saw this as a targeted harassment before the election.
The independent US organization Carter Center, which sent election observers to Venezuela, described the entire vote as undemocratic. Maduro requested an investigation of the election by the Supreme Court, which is considered government-loyal. The electoral chamber of the Supreme Court invited all ten candidates to a hearing on August 2.
"Edmundo González received the most votes"
"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and especially to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in the presidential election on July 28 in Venezuela," explained US Secretary of State Blinken. He said it was now time for the parties in the South American country to engage in talks about a "peaceful transition."
The foreign ministers of the G7 industrialized nations called on Venezuela's authorities to publish the detailed results. The left-wing heads of state of three major Latin American countries - Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia - also did so in a joint statement.
The US Secretary of State's statement acknowledging Edmundo González Urrutia's victory in the election puts additional international pressure on President Maduro's authoritarian regime. Despite the election victory claim by the opposition, the detailed results from individual polling stations are yet to be published by the government-loyal electoral commission.
