CNN
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It’s a well-known scene that Venezuelans have witnessed too usually over the previous decade: strongman Nicolás Maduro standing on the balcony of Miraflores presidential palace within the coronary heart of the capital Caracas declaring himself the winner of one more election.

“I can say in entrance of the folks of Venezuela and the world: I’m President Nicolas Maduro, re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and I’ll defend our democracy, our regulation and our folks,” Maduro mentioned, waving his fist within the air, dancing on stage and sporting a sporty jumpsuit with the colours and stars of the Venezuelan flag.

Venezuela’s Nationwide Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner a bit after midnight saying he had received with 51.2% of the votes, with 80% of the ballots counted. His foremost rival, opposition candidate Edmundo González, had obtained 44.2% of the votes, in keeping with the Electoral Council.

The opposition rejected the declare, saying González had an “overwhelming” majority and that voting tallies from about 40% of poll containers nationwide confirmed he obtained 70% of the votes.

“We received, and everybody is aware of it,” opposition chief Maria Corina Machado mentioned following the CNE announcement. “We received in all sectors and states of the nation.”

Pots, pans and protests

Large protests started to unfold all through the nation Monday, with folks banging pots and pans, accusing the federal government of fraud and demanding a right away audit of the votes.

In Caracas, CNN groups witnessed dozens of nationwide guard troopers in riot gear repressing the principally peaceable protests with tear gasoline and batons.

One protester was captured on video surrounded by a gaggle of uniformed officers, who have been slapping him on the pinnacle whereas holding him below an overpass.

“We wish peace for Venezuela, for our relations,” a protester, who selected to not be recognized, instructed reporting groups on the bottom.

The Maduro authorities controls a lot of the nation’s establishments, together with the Electoral Council, in addition to the Armed Forces.

In 2019, lethal anti-government protests killed greater than 50 folks and led to lots of of arrests.

Earlier anti-government demonstrations in 2017 and 2014 additionally turned violent.

The USA, the UN and a number of other different nations and establishments have known as on Venezuela’s electoral fee to make polling outcomes public.

“We have now critical issues that the end result introduced doesn’t replicate the need or the votes of the Venezuelan folks. It’s important that each vote be counted pretty and transparently, that election officers instantly share data with the opposition and impartial observers directly,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken instructed reporters in Tokyo.

The United Nations and the Carter Middle, who have been the one two impartial election observers allowed contained in the nation, have additionally requested for a well timed publication of the outcomes.

“Electoral authorities ought to undertake their work independently and with out interference to ensure the free expression of the need of the voters,” UN Secretary-Common Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric mentioned on Monday.

Different Latin American nations, together with Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay refused to acknowledge the outcomes and had their diplomatic employees in nation expelled Monday.

The Maduro authorities accused the nations of being a “group of right-wing Washington-subordinate governments, brazenly dedicated to essentially the most sordid fascist ideological positions.”

A few of Maduro’s shut allies, like China and Cuba, have been fast to congratulate the 62-year-old Venezuelan for securing his third time period in workplace.

“My brother, your victory, which is that of the Bolivarian and Chavista folks, has clearly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition,” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on his official X account, previously often called Twitter.

It appears unlikely Maduro’s authorities pays an excessive amount of consideration to the issues raised over the outcomes. Certainly, it’s raised questions of its personal, including an extra layer of confusion by making an unsubstantiated declare {that a} cyberattack was carried out towards the nation’s automated voting system and pointing the finger on the opposition.

“The CNE reported that the outcomes from all polling stations will quickly be out there on its web site, because the authorities have traditionally achieved because of the automated voting system,” Venezuela’s Legal professional Common Tarek William Saab mentioned throughout a press convention in Caracas Monday.

Saab claimed the assault got here from North Macedonia, within the Balkans, with the intention of “manipulating information that was being obtained by the CNE.”

He additionally claimed opposition leaders like Machado, Leopoldo López and Lester Toledo have been behind the alleged assault with out offering any proof.

Practically 8 million folks have left Venezuela since 2014, in keeping with the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Many have gone to Spain, Peru and Brazil with a rising quantity making the treacherous journey via the Darién Hole between Colombia and Panamá to move northward towards america.

A current survey from Venezuelan pollster ORC Consultores discovered that greater than 18% of the respondents would take into account leaving the nation if Maduro was reelected.

“My household is already pondering of leaving,” Eva Martinez mentioned in Caracas a day after the vote.

Venezuelans have been the second largest group of migrants apprehended by US Customs and Border Patrol in 2023, totaling over 260,000 encounters, a fivefold improve from 2020 when there have been lower than 50,000.

In response to Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America research on the Council on International Relations, such a scenario “might be a extremely unhealthy October shock for the Democrats” within the upcoming US presidential election.

Two Senior Biden administration officers spoke to the media on Monday, reiterating requires the Venezuelan authorities to “instantly” launch particular information relating to its presidential election.

The officers declined to offer specifics on the actions the US or worldwide neighborhood can be ready to take if the Venezuelan authorities don’t launch the information or if the outcomes are decided to be fraudulent, however they didn’t rule out sanctions.

If Maduro takes workplace in January, he can be sworn in for an additional six-year time period extending his presidency till 2031. He assumed the presidency in 2013, after his predecessor Hugo Chavez died of an obvious coronary heart assault. Chavez established the “Chavismo” motion when he took workplace in 1999, his insurance policies have been dominated by nationalization and the redistribution of the nation’s enormous oil wealth to the marginalized and poorest communities, in addition to a continuing push to guard Venezuelan sovereignty towards “imperialist” powers.

The prospect of an extra six years could also be sufficient to make sure that – as has occurred all too usually prior to now – many Venezuelans determine they haven’t any different selection however to vote with their toes.

For individuals who have already made the journey, that could be a miserable state of affairs.

“I wish to be in my dwelling, I wish to be in my nation,” sobbed Heczair Blanco, a Venezuelan lady in Buenos Aires after studying of Maduro’s supposed victory.

“We wish Venezuela to be free and for the folks’s will to be revered,” she mentioned.