Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third term in Venezuela’s presidential elections, winning 51.2% of the vote.
In a 29 July press conference, the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, announced that with 80% of ballots counted, there was an irreversible trend pointing towards a Maduro victory, and that 59% of the electorate had participated in the elections.
Right-wing candidate Edmundo González came in second with 44% of the vote.
After the results were announced, Maduro, accompanied by other leaders of Chavismo, addressed supporters at Miraflores Palace.
“There will be peace, stability, and justice. Peace and respect for the law,” he declared.
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Maduro stated that his priorities are to advance the economic recovery of the country, to strengthen social projects and to build spaces of national dialogue and unity among the diverse political and social forces in the country.
Another two key priorities are to continue fighting for an end to the blockade and sanctions imposed on the country by the US and the EU and to pass an anti-blockade law.
The far-right opposition led by the former presidential candidate Edmundo González and political leader María Corina Machado has refused to recognise the results.
Machado claimed in a press conference that González had won 70% of the votes, and Maduro had 30%. She called on supporters to “continue affirming the victory of Edmundo in all of Venezuela… In the next few days we will continue announcing actions to defend the truth.”
Latin American right unites against Bolivarian Revolution
Ahead of the 28 July presidential election, political figures, former elected officials and sitting authorities from conservative sectors of Latin American politics united to condemn the ongoing electoral process underway in Venezuela.
They supported the far right in the country represented on the ballot by González and politically by Machado, who was not eligible to run.
The first wave of attacks were in response to the alleged political deportations of several political figures such as ex-vice president of Colombia Marta Lucía Ramírez, ex-president of Mexico Vicente Fox and ex-president of Bolivia Jorge Tuto Ramírez. They are part of the Miami-based right-wing think tank Idea Group and had attempted to travel to Venezuela to act as electoral observers.
After they were denied entry to the country for not having proper accreditation from the country’s electoral authorities, they launched a campaign on social media alleging they were arbitrarily detained and deported by the “Maduro regime”.
In a statement released by Idea Group, the political intentions of this trip are made clear, stating its intention to “sustain the struggle for the return of democracy in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Bolivia; this, to prevent other countries in the region from knowing the risk of suffering that long night that for 24 years has darkened the illusions and hopes of millions of Venezuelans”.
Machado and González have also been drumming up support from other right-wing leaders.
Machado wrote about a call she had with Argentine President Javier Milei, stating, “I thanked [Milei] for the support and commitment of his government and the political team of the Foreign Ministry during these difficult months for Venezuelans and for our people in the campaign.” – People’s Dispatch/Globetrotter News Service
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