Venezuela’s electoral council says result is “irreversible”
Portugal’s government has been one of the first to call for the impartial verification of results of yesterday’s presidential elections in Venezuela, in which President Nicolás Maduro has claimed victory.
In a post over social network ‘X’, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it ‘welcomes the popular participation and considers it necessary to verify the election results in Venezuela impartially. Only transparency will guarantee legitimacy; we call for democratic equity and a spirit of dialogue. We always accompany the Portuguese community” in Venezuela, of which there are still many thousands.
The United States is another government that has suggested a recount, which doesn’t appear to be going down well with Venezuelan authorities. The national electoral council has said the result is “irreversible” – and the president of the Supreme Court has already intimated that a manual account would be “a deceit of the people” aimed at destabilising the country.
But the millions of people who voted for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urruti do not seem ready to be ‘fobbed off’ in this way: social media commentary has already remarked that ‘selfies’ taken of election workers at Venezuela’s tabulation center’ show election results across various states giving a “HISTORIC defeat of the socialist president.
“This makes it IMPOSSIBLE for Maduro to steal the election”, says one commentator.
Other commentary stresses: “Hey, they can’t even rig the votes plausibly: official election results in Venezuela: Let’s add the numbers: 51.2%+44.2%+4.6%+4.6%+4.6% =109%” (followed by a clown face).
According to Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) Nicolás Maduro had been eased into his third 6-year term with 51.2% of the vote.
Official figures show Maduro obtained 5.15 million votes, ahead of opposition candidate Gonzalez Urrutia, who obtained just under 4.5 million (44.2%).
The results were announced after 80% of the ballot papers had been counted and 59% of voters had turned up to the polls. As CNE president Elvis Amoroso stressed, they are “irreversible”
But are they?
María Corina Machado, the original presidential candidate barred from running after support for her in the primaries last year fwas so resounding, has told reporters that in the coming days ‘actions will be announced to defend the truth’ and ‘respect for popular sovereignty’ which, she claims (along with so many others), means Gonzalez Urrutia is the winning candidate.
Needless to say, some countries (namely Nicaragua, Cuba, Russia, China and Iran) have already congratulated Maduro on his victory. ND
Source material: LUSA/ Guardian/ rfi.france
