Maduro celebrates victory and responds to the opposition: ‘Respect the July 28 result’

Brasil de Fato

President Nicolás Maduro was reelected on Sunday (28) for his third term heading Venezuela, with 51.2% of the votes. In a speech after the official announcement of the result, he celebrated the victory and said that the opposition wanted to sabotage the process from the very beginning to the end.

On a stage inside the Miraflores presidential palace, musical groups welcomed him with songs in his honor, in front of hundreds of activists. They were all wearing sports jackets with the words “My ‘gallo pinto’ won,” referring to the nickname with which the president has identified himself in recent months: a strong rooster in contrast with González, whom he painted as weak.

“Come on Nico, come on Nico!” they shouted.

“I can say before the people of Venezuela and the world: I am Nicolás Maduro Moros, reelected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” he declared from the stage accompanied by his wife Cilia Flores and other Chavist leaders.

“There will be peace, stability and justice. Peace and respect for the law,” he emphasized.

Maduro also reinforced the complaint by Venezuela’s Electoral Council (CNE, in Spanish) about a hacker attack on the electoral system. “The Attorney General’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office will investigate and charge those responsible. But we already know which country it came from.” Elvis Amoroso, CNE’s president, also denounced an “attack on the data transmission system that delayed” the voting count.

In his speech, there was no shortage of barbs at Argentinian president Javier Milei, who had said before the results were released that Buenos Aires “will not recognize another fraud” and called on the Venezuelan military to “defend democracy and the will of the people,” a euphemism for a coup.

“Javier Milei can’t take a round with me,” said Maduro, drawing applause from the crowd.

 Opposition

But the opposition leader María Corina Machado did not accept the defeat and claimed victory for his candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia. She even stated, without evidence, that González Urrutia had “70% of the votes, and Nicolás Maduro, 30%”. That’s the truth,” she said.

Corina called on her inspectors to remain at the polling stations until the electoral records are made available. The Venezuelan electoral justice system says that 54% of the ballot boxes have been audited, and the opposition says it has only had access to 30% of them.

The head of US diplomacy, Antony Blinken, called for a “fair and transparent” vote tally. “We call on the electoral authorities to publish the detailed vote tally to ensure transparency and accountability,” Blinken said in a statement.

Maduro was reelected for a third consecutive presidential term, guaranteeing more than six years leading Venezuela. After 25 years of Chavism in Venezuela, Maduro, 61 and, in power since 2013, received 5.15 million votes (51.2%), according to the first official bulletin, which had 80% of the votes counted. He beat opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who received 4.45 million votes (44.2%). According to Amoroso, 59% of voters participated in these elections. With this, Maduro will probably remain in power for 18 years, until 2031.

Among thousands of international observers was a delegation from the Carter Center and four UN experts.