2024-07-29 10:11:05
Venezuela was thrown into chaos over the presidential election held on the 28th. Pre-election opinion polls and exit polls on election day showed that President Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, would lose, but the National Electoral Commission, which is close to the ruling party, unilaterally declared President Maduro’s victory.
The opposition, which had been confident of victory, is protesting vehemently, claiming that the election was rigged.
On the 29th, opposition presidential candidate Gonzalez Urrutia and his supporter, former National Assembly President Maria Machado, held a press conference and announced, “Candidate Urrutia received over 70% of the votes. This is a fraudulent election.” U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken and Chilean President Gabriel Boric also joined in, saying they could not accept the election results. The New York Times (NYT) criticized, “The Venezuelan presidential election was marred by fraud.”
President Maduro hinted early on during his campaign speech on the 22nd that he would not accept the results of the presidential election, saying, “If I lose the presidential election, the country could be a sea of blood.” Some are even raising the possibility that the Maduro government may bloodily suppress anti-government protesters who do not accept the results of this presidential election.
● Another suspicion of election fraud after 5 years
According to AP and other news agencies, Venezuela’s National Electoral Commission announced on the 29th that “with about 80% of the votes counted, President Maduro received 51.2% of the votes and candidate Urrutia received 44.2%.” If this result is confirmed, President Maduro will be successful in his third term, following the 2013 and 2018 presidential elections.
This is in stark contrast to the exit polls of major Western media outlets. The Washington Post (WP) reported that according to the exit polls, candidate Urrutia received 65% of the votes, leading President Maduro (31%) by more than 30 percentage points.
The National Election Commission did not disclose the real-time vote counting situation. When some opposition supporters tried to enter the counting area to verify the vote counting process, authorities blocked them, and a physical clash occurred.
As various suspicions of electoral fraud were raised, angry citizens began protesting in various parts of the country, including the capital Caracas, on the night of the 28th, demanding “disclosure of accurate vote counting results.” The Maduro regime also refused entry to the overseas election monitoring team consisting of key figures from Central and South American countries just before the presidential election.
President Maduro was also embroiled in controversy over election fraud when he was re-elected in 2018. At that time, concerns were raised about election fraud, and many citizens did not vote, resulting in a voter turnout of less than 50%. The United States and the European Union (EU) also did not recognize the election results.
● Maduro, ‘Chavez’s successor’
President Maduro is a self-made man who started out as a bus driver and became president. Born in Caracas in 1962, he worked as a bus driver in the 1980s and was active in the transport union. In 1992, he helped former President Hugo Chavez, the godfather of the South American left, who was imprisoned for a coup attempt, and formed a relationship with him. When former President Chavez came to power in 1999, President Maduro also rose through the ranks, becoming the president of the National Assembly, foreign minister, and vice president, and was called the “crown prince of Chavez.” In March 2013, former President Chavez died of cancer, and he won the presidential election held that same year.
President Maduro has been heavily criticized for frequently mobilizing the military to suppress anti-government protests and worsening economic difficulties throughout his term. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Venezuela’s GDP in 2022 will decrease by about 80% compared to 2013, when President Maduro first took office. Venezuela is one of the world’s leading oil producers, but it is evaluated as a country whose national treasury has been emptied by leftist populism. Since the Chavez regime, oil companies have been forcibly nationalized, and the money earned from crude oil exports has been poured into free medical care, free education, and low-cost housing. In addition, the prices of daily necessities such as food, medicine, and toilet paper have been artificially set low.
Due to excessive welfare budgets, the country experienced hyperinflation of over 60,000% in 2018. According to the UN, the poverty rate reached 82% as of February this year, and by the end of last year, 7.7 million people, or 30% of the population, had emigrated overseas due to economic difficulties.
Reporter Kim Bo-ra [email protected]
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2024-07-29 10:11:05