Venezuela: Edmundo González Urrutia and María Corina Machado Disappointed in Election Results

Venezuela’s Electoral Council (CNE) announced on July 28 that Nicolás Maduro had been re-elected as president with 51.2% of the vote, despite allegations of irregularities by opposition leaders.  The disappointing results were expected by many observers as Maduro is famous for operating a dictatorial regime. Polls suggested that the opposition party led by Mr. González had a wide lead over the incumbent, but as in the past, Mr. Maduro’s 2018 re-election was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair, so there are fears that the result of this 2024 election was tampered with. The United States has “serious concerns”. The Venezuelan election result declaring President Maduro the winner is not accurate, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says.  “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” Blinken said while in Japan.  Earlier he said the US wants votes in Venezuela’s presidential election to be counted “fairly and transparently”.  Argentinian President, Javier Milei proclaimed on X, “Dictator Maduro, out!”  “Argentina will not recognize another fraud, and expects the Armed Forces this time to defend democracy and the will of the people,” he said.

“The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González said in his first remarks.  Venezuela’s opposition claimed Edmundo González defeated President Nicolás Maduro in Sunday’s presidential election, setting up a showdown with the government, which earlier declared Maduro the winner.  Opposition leader María Corina Machado made the announcement standing alongside González, whose margin of victory she said was “overwhelming.”  Earlier the opposition said it had obtained voting tallies from about 30% of ballot boxes nationwide, with more expected overnight.  The National Electoral Council, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, has yet to provide the tallies from 30,000 polling booths nationwide.  People at one polling place in a longtime government stronghold celebrated a vote tally favoring González. Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio quickly panned the electoral council’s announcement of a Maduro victory.  In a post on X, he said Maduro’s government had “just carried out the most predictable and ridiculous sham election in modern history.”  If Maduro wins, more Venezuelans say they will leave.  Chile’s Boric finds results “hard to believe” and Costa Rica’s Chaves rejects them outright. 

Delsa Solórzano, president of the Encuentro Ciudadano party, which represents candidate Edmundo González Urrutia and the movement led by opposition candidate María Corina Machado.  “They are stopping the broadcast so we can’t see the large number of votes showing, but with the percentage we have, it is already clear that Venezuela has reasons to celebrate.”  He said that the witnesses at the table have the right to the minutes.  “Do not leave the voting centers until you have the minutes in your hands,” Solórzano told witnesses and polling station members in Venezuela. He said that although they already have several minutes, it is “a right to have all the documents from the vote count.”  He said that they have reported what is happening to international observers and the international community.  Solórzano said that witnesses are being prevented from accessing the records and are also not allowed to enter the facilities of the National Electoral Council.  The hopeful faces below, turned to sadness, disappointment, and anger.

The foreign ministers of Uruguay, Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay and Peru issued a joint statement today expressing their concern and announcing that they will closely monitor the electoral events in Venezuela. The statement, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay and six other countries, underlines the importance of ensuring that the election results faithfully reflect the popular will expressed by the Venezuelan people at the polls. Several international observers were not allowed the opportunity to come to Venezuela to verify that the electoral process was carried out in a transparent manner.  The fact that dozens of political leaders were not allowed to enter Venezuela because they are not in line with President Maduro, supports the idea of ​​those of us who say that this is not a democracy but a dictatorship. On Sunday, Venezuela will have to decide between dictatorship and freedom. Opposition party leader Edmundo González Urrutia was asked about recent statements made by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, where he warned of a “bloodbath” if he did not win the elections. Edmundo replied that July 28 was an election celebration and not a boxing ring. “There is overflowing joy everywhere,” he said.  But it just went silent…….

Former President Mireya Moscoso, who is the “eyes of Panama” (as announced by President José Raúl Mulino) in the July 28 elections in Venezuela, explained that it would really be a mistake to recognize that President Nicolás Maduro won the elections. Moscoso indicated that in most countries it is known that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia won the elections in Venezuela. “But we are waiting for the decision of the National Electoral Council and God willing they do not make a mistake because it is known throughout the world that Edmundo won,” said Moscoso.  The former Panamanian President on July 26 was unable to travel with other former presidents to carry out an observation mission after an invitation from opposition leader María Corina Machado.  Moscoso, former presidents Vicente Fox (Mexico), Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia), and Miguel Ángel Rodríguez (Costa Rica), and former vice president of Colombia, Marta Lucía Ramírez, had to get off a plane because Maduro blocked the airspace to Panamanian aircraft.  This group of former presidents belongs to the IDEA Group, which brings together other regional leaders who fight for democracy and human rights.  When asked if there was electoral fraud as has happened on other occasions in Venezuela, Moscoso said that the Government of Panama and other countries in the region are waiting for the decision of the National Electoral Council and hopes “that they do not make a mistake.”  But it looks like they did.  

Cuba’s president congratulates Maduro

The delay in announcing results — six hours after polls were supposed to close — indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.  When Maduro finally came out to celebrate the results, he accused unidentified foreign enemies of trying to hack the voting system.  “This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he said to a few hundred supporters at the presidential palace. He provided no evidence to back the claim but promised “justice” for those who try to stir violence in Venezuela.