Venezuela: Maduro Claims Victory, the Opposition Cries Fraud
Maduro thanked the Venezuelan people for overcoming a “tremendous psychological war from demons,” to reelect him to another term.
By Circles Robinson
HAVANA TIMES – Presidential elections were held in Venezuela on Sunday and as many experts predicted the results may not have reflected the actual vote.
When a government controls all State institutions, in this case the National Electoral Council (CNE), anything can happen to perpetuate a regime in power. Without impartial arbitrators, great disparities can occur from the polling place vote tallies and the results transmitted to the country’s electoral body.
The tallies at polling places, to which the designated witnesses are supposed to receive a paper copy, are typically the way that citizens can verify that the digital count is correct.
In Venezuela the differences appear to have been extreme. With 80% of the votes reported, the government authorities say Maduro received 51.2% of the vote compared to 44.2% for opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez.
However, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who organized their nationwide protect the vote effort, said that the copies of 40% of the voting tally sheets obtained by poll watchers showed Gonzales receiving approximately 70% of the vote and 30% for Maduro.
Machado noted that in 60% of the polling stations the poll workers refused to give the witnesses their rightful copy of the results, a legal obligation. Likewise, the designated national opposition witnesses, present at virtually all polling places, were not allowed into the national vote tally center.
Initial results were expected around 9 PM local time but silence emanated from the election authorities. Finally, after midnight, with great expectation among the population, Maduro said the preliminary voting results were delayed past midnight because “of a massive hacking of the electronic transmission system”.
“Venezuela suffered an attack, at night, a massive hacking. We already know which country it comes from, a massive attack on the electoral transmission system because the demons did not want the electoral bulletin to be totaled,” Maduro stated before a crowd from the gardens of Miraflores.
To create confusion, he indicated that they already knew who had ordered the attack. “The investigation is in the hands of the prosecutor’s office, to seek justice for our people. It was a brutal hack that wanted to prevent the people from having their official results,” he added.
In power since 2013 when his mentor Hugo Chavez appointed him, Maduro thanked the Venezuelan people for overcoming a “tremendous psychological war from demons,” to reelect him. He said he would now hold another national dialogue.
Meanwhile, Machado said that it was clear that Venezuela had a new president in Edmundo Gonzalez.
“We want to tell all Venezuelans and the whole world that Venezuela has a new president-elect, and it is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. Everyone knows it, I want you to know that this has been something so overwhelming, so great that we have won in all sectors of the country, in all strata and all states of the country we have won,” she said after 1:00 in the morning at the With Venezuela headquarters.
The truth of what happened on Sunday will be tested on Monday and the coming days as evidence of vote tampering or a legitimate Maduro victory become known. Almost no international observers were allowed to monitor the election process, however the Carter Center was allowed and had initially said they would give a press conference on Tuesday.