Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has bowed to pressure from protesters and neighbouring countries and called for an audit of the recent presidential election as he continues to clash verbally with rival leaders such as Argentina's Javier Milei.
“The fraud carried out and perpetrated by dictator Nicolás Maduro is nothing less than a Pyrrhic victory,” Milei said in a video posted on TikTok, according to a translation by The Wall Street Journal. “He may believe he has won a battle. However, the most important thing is that the Venezuelan lions have awakened, and sooner or later socialism will come to an end.”
Maduro on Wednesday asked the country's Supreme Court to conduct an audit of the election, responding to opposition claims that it had won the election and international complaints that the vote was neither fair nor free. Maduro told reporters that his party had the electoral records and was willing to share them, The Associated Press reported.
“The serious doubts that have arisen around the Venezuelan electoral process could lead its people to a deep violent polarization with serious consequences of permanent division,” wrote Colombian President Gustavo Petro on the social network X.
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“I call on the Venezuelan government to allow the elections to conclude in peace, allowing for a transparent vote count, with the supervision of all political forces in the country and professional international supervision,” Petro added.
Anti-government protests continued in the days after the election, which the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council handed the incumbent president a purported 51% margin of victory, compared with 44% support for the opposition.
Argentine President Javier Milei delivers a speech during the 136th Rural Expo at La Rural Exhibition and Conference Center on July 28, 2024 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Tomás Cuesta/Getty Images)
However, pre-election polls (which are illegal in the country) showed that opposition candidate Edmundo González had twice as much support as Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Venezuelans took to the streets in peaceful protests, but Maduro sent in police to suppress them and clear the streets, leading to violent clashes and an escalation of violence. Protesters toppled statues of Hugo Chavez to express their anger at the result and alleged fraud.
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The Carter Center, a nonprofit founded by former President Jimmy Carter to promote human rights, determined that Venezuela's elections “failed to meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic.”
“The Carter Center cannot verify or corroborate the election results declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority's failure to announce the results broken down by voting table constitutes a serious violation of electoral principles,” the center wrote in a statement.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting with the National Council of Productive Economy at the Humboldt Hotel on September 21, 2023 in Caracas, Venezuela. (Carlos Becerra/Getty Images)
“The election took place in an environment of restrictions on the freedoms of political actors, civil society organizations and the media,” the center added. “Throughout the electoral process, the CNE demonstrated a clear bias in favor of the president in power.”
Maduro first took office in 2013 as Chavez's hand-picked successor, but many inside and outside the country have alleged from the start that the PSUV has effectively ruled as a dictatorship, prompting opposition parties to boycott the 2018 election before deciding to unite behind Gonzalez in the most recent vote.
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Milei was one of the first regional leaders to call the victory an “electoral scam” and Maduro a “fraud,” while other countries, including Chile, demanded that Maduro publish proof of his victory, such as the district-by-district breakdown of the vote counts — all of which Maduro has ignored, sparking further protests.
Maduro responded to Milei's remarks by insulting him, calling him a “cowardly bug,” a “traitor to the homeland” and a “fascist,” and challenging Milei to a direct confrontation, saying: “You couldn't stand a round against me,” the Buenos Aires Herald reported.
Protesters clash with police near an armored police vehicle during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on July 29, 2024, a day after Venezuela's presidential election. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)
A plainclothes military intelligence officer, who did not give his name, told reporters the country was “at war” and that any effort to disrespect Chavez was offensive to millions of Venezuelans who revere the former army paratrooper and anti-imperialist icon.
Maduro said several people had been arrested in the attacks, which he compared to images of US-led revolutions in post-Soviet states including Ukraine and Georgia.
“What is in these people's heads? In their hearts?” Maduro asked in a televised speech on Monday night, in which he broadcast images of some of the attacks. “Imagine if one day they come to power here, what they would be capable of.”
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Attorney General Tarek William Saab also issued arrest warrants for Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, accusing them of attacking the electoral system without “evidence,” according to Voice of America.
Maduro and National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez also called for the arrest of opposition leaders, accusing them of perpetuating a “fascist conspiracy.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
