The political opposition in Venezuela held protests across the country on Saturday demanding the recognition of their candidate’s victory in the presidential election almost three weeks ago, Reuters said.
Earlier, the country’s electoral body said President Nicolás Maduro had won his third term in the 28 July contest with just under 52% of the vote, but the opposition met the decision with outrage, claiming the body was a division of the ruling party. In the meantime, the opposition, led by former lawmaker Maria Corina Machado, posted 83 per cent of the vote online, giving its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia the support of 67 per cent of voters.
The election has plunged the economically beleaguered country into a political crisis, while government action against the protests has led to at least 2,400 arrests. Moreover, clashes during and related to the protests have also resulted in at least 23 deaths.
In the capital Caracas, over five thousand people had gathered by midday in the eastern part of the city, along its main thoroughfare. In another city, Maracaibo, once Venezuela’s oil-rich city in the north-west of the country, hundreds of people had gathered by 9 a.m. (1300 GMT). Hundreds demonstrated in Valencia, San Cristobal and Barquisimeto, many waving Venezuelan flags, protest signs or copies of electoral tallies.
While the international community offered many suggestions on how the nearly three-week electoral crisis could be resolved, including a new vote, most were outright rejected by both the ruling party and the opposition.
Many Western countries have called for full publication of the results, but the United States and other Western nations have shown no signs of quick, tough action on what many of them have condemned as vote fraud. Russia, China and others have congratulated Maduro on his victory.
According to Panama’s president, Latin American will discuss the crisis this weekend when many are in the Dominican Republic to attend the inauguration of that country’s new president.
