In a statement on Saturday (3), Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said that “it will not be accepted” that the opposition “intends to usurp” the country’s presidency. The National Electoral Council (CNE) confirmed Maduro’s re-election last week for a new term at the head of the country. The results, however, are widely questioned by several countries.
The issue also generated a wave of protests against Maduro, accusing him of fraud. Supporters of the president also invaded the streets of the capital, showing support for the re-elected president.
“It will not be accepted, with national laws, that they intend to usurp the presidency again,” he said in Caracas during a rally. At the time, he compared Edmundo González Urrutia, an opposition candidate who claims to have won the elections, with political leader Juan Guaidó, who was recognized in 2019 as “interim president.”
“Guaidó part two, González Urrutia, he won’t go!” Maduro told supporters. “They want to impose Guaidó’s sad story again. Guaidó 2.0 (…). Today he was afraid,” he said, referring to the absence of González Urrutia at a rally led by María Corina Machado, leader of the opposition.
Guaidó was head of parliament in 2019, when he was recognized as “interim president” by Washington and several Latin American and European governments after considering Maduro’s re-election a year earlier fraudulent. He is currently in exile in the United States.
Last Friday (2), the CNE made official Maduro’s victory, with 52% of the votes, against González Urrutia, who obtained 43%, according to the agency. The minutes of the elections have not yet been published.
The opposition, however, continues to denounce fraud and says it has a copy of 80% of the minutes, which were published on the internet independently. According to these documents, González Urrutia achieved 67% of the votes.
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