Protests break out as Maduro declared winner of disputed Venezuela election

CARACAS, Venezuela

Venezuelans have taken to the streets after the electoral authority officially declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of an election that the opposition says was marred by fraud.

Protests have erupted across the country, with demonstrators even toppling a statue of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, in the state of Falcon.

In the Petare area — one of the poorest parts of the capital, Caracas — demonstrators shouted slogans against the president, and some masked young people tore down his campaign posters from lampposts.

Some protesters were also headed towards Miraflores, the presidential palace.

Police were deployed in large numbers across the city, and members of the National Guard were seen to be firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators. There were also reports of “colectivos” — pro-Maduro paramilitary groups — firing at protesters.

“It’s going to fall. It’s going to fall. This government is going fall!” some of the protesters shouted.

Public anger swelled after the National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday formally confirmed that Maduro had been re-elected by a majority of Venezuelans to another six-year term as president “for the period 2025-2031”.

But the CNE, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, has not released the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling stations across Venezuela, fuelling political tensions in the South American nation and calls for greater transparency.

Opposition representatives said the counts they collected from campaign representatives at the centres show presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez trouncing Maduro.

In a press conference on Monday evening, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado claimed her coalition had more than 70 percent of the votes tallied and catalogued in an online database.

“They show we have a president elect, and that person is Edmundo Gonzalez,” Machado said, turning to the presidential candidate, who stood by her side.

The CNE, however, maintained Gonzalez had failed to defeat the president, earning 44 percent of the votes compared with Maduro’s 51 percent.

Speaking in a televised address from Caracas on Monday, Maduro, 61, claimed, without providing evidence, that “an attempt is being made to impose a coup d’etat in Venezuela”.

“We already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness,” he added, saying Venezuela’s “law will be respected”.

As Maduro spoke, demonstrators began to gather in Caracas, and some tried to block freeways, including one that connects the capital with a port city that is home to Venezuela’s main international airport.

Opposition leaders also rejected Maduro’s allegations, calling for peaceful protests across the country.

“The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” Gonzalez said in his first remarks since the results were announced.

Later, during the Monday evening press conference, he reiterated his claim to victory while urging supporters to remain calm.

“I speak to you at peace, knowing the truth. And I want to tell all the Venezuelan people that there will be expressed yesterday through their vote will be respected. We will make sure that happens,” Gonzalez said.

“That is the only path towards peace. We have in our hands the records that show our triumph — our overwhelming triumph that cannot be reversed.”

Eating breakfast on a bench next to an unopened business in Caracas on Monday morning, 28-year-old voter Deyvid Cadenas said he felt cheated.

“I don’t believe yesterday’s results,” Cadenas, who cast a ballot in a presidential election for the first time on Sunday, told AP.

As the political uncertainty continues to swirl, election observers and foreign leaders from around the world have urged Venezuela to release a full breakdown of the election results.

A spokesman for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the UN chief was calling “for complete transparency” and “the timely publication of the election results and their breakdown by polling stations”.

“The secretary-general trusts that all electoral disputes will be addressed and resolved peacefully and calls on all Venezuelan political leaders and their supporters for moderation,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters at UN headquarters in New York.

The Carter Center, which sent a team of electoral observers to Venezuela for the election, also called on the electoral authority to immediately publish the presidential voting results by polling station.

“The information contained in the polling station-level results forms as transmitted to the CNE is critical to our assessment and important for all Venezuelans,” the group said in a statement.