Tensions mount as Venezuela’s election dispute mounts; fears of more arrests

Shops and public transport were closed across Venezuela on Wednesday as a bitterly disputed presidential election and rumors of more opposition arrests and sporadic violence forced many people to stay home.

Socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, was declared the winner of Sunday’s election by the electoral commission. The opposition said its vote count With about 90% of the votes counted, its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, has more than twice as much support as Maduro.

The dispute entered its third day amid growing calls for greater electoral transparency, but the government insisted it had not released comprehensive voting totals at polling station level because North Macedonia’s systems were hacked, delaying voting, but it provided no evidence to support its claim.

The U.S.-based Carter Center, one of the few independent watchdogs authorized to observe the election, announced in a statement late Tuesday that the election was “Cannot be considered democraticIt said the electoral process was skewed in Maduro’s favor and flawed from beginning to end, and called the failure of electoral authorities to publish classified results a “serious irregularity.”

Maduro said on state television on Wednesday that he rejected all threats, including possible new US Sanctions.

Maduro promised that his Socialist Party was ready to publish all vote results and said he had asked the Supreme Court to force the opposition to do the same.

In the early hours of Monday, Venezuela’s electoral council – which the opposition accuses of being paid by Maduro – announced that Maduro had won re-election with 51% of the vote, 7 percentage points ahead of González.

But shortly thereafter, Venezuela’s main opposition coalition launched a website that provided detailed ballot-box-level vote counts for the vast majority of the country’s 30,000 voting machines, including scans of vote counts printed out from those machines.

As of Wednesday evening, the site showed opposition candidate Gonzalez with 67% of the vote and Maduro with 30%, representing nearly 82% of the polling station data.

Reuters was unable to verify the authenticity of every ballot, but independent exit polls showed Gonzalez’s margin of victory was unchanged from before the election.

It comes amid growing international pressure, including from regional heavyweights such as the United States and Brazil, for the government to release full election results.

At a meeting of the Organization of American States in Washington, Brian Nichols, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, said it was “obvious” why Venezuelan electoral authorities had failed to release full vote results.

He believes that either officials did not want to confirm Gonzalez’s landslide victory or they needed more time to falsify the results.

“It is clear to everyone that Edmundo González defeated Nicolás Maduro by millions of votes,” Nichols said, imploring Maduro and other foreign governments to Admit his failure.

The dispute led to a deadly, widespread protest Maduro and his military allies have denounced it as an attempted coup. Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday it had received reports of 20 deaths in post-election demonstrations.

Some Maduro allies, such as National Congress Party President Jorge Rodriguez, have said Gonzalez and prominent opposition leader Maria Corina Machado should be arrested because of their prominent roles in anti-government protests, including in longtime ruling party strongholds.

Arresting Gonzalez or Machado would mark a major escalation after two other opposition leaders were detained this week, including Popular Volunteer Party leader Freddy Sopelano, whose arrest was captured on video and showed him being pushed into the back seat of an unmarked car by armed security agents.

Reuters witnessed clashes between security forces and opposition protesters in several cities, as well as attacks on protesters by motorcyclists allied to the ruling party.

“I am warning the world about the brutal repression being unleashed by the regime,” Machado wrote on the X website on Wednesday.

The popular former lawmaker was barred from running for president by a government-allied court but still managed to win the support of retired diplomat Gonzalez at a mass rally before the vote.

Two opposition sources who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity said the opposition was working to pressure the government to release all voting results.

Although waves of anti-government protests over the past decade have drawn international condemnation and left hundreds dead, they have failed to topple Maduro’s regime.

Many anxious residents retreated to their homes and many shops closed on the quiet streets. But new violence broke out.

Late Tuesday, 19-year-old Luis Eduardo Roberto died in the city of Upata, the capital of Bolivar state, following opposition protests.

The cause of death was a gunshot wound to the head, according to the death certificate. Witnesses, including the boy’s father, Ricardo Roberto, said members of a motorcycle vigilante group shot him.

“I’m furious,” he said. “They killed my son.”

Maduro ally Angel Marcano, governor of Bolivar department, confirmed the deaths but blamed them on protesters throwing rocks.

In the capital, Caracas, some shops remained open but queues were long and military deployment was stepped up around the presidential palace.

Bus drivers in Maracay, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Caracas, are not working due to fears of more violence.