Around midnight in Venezuelaand shortly after the opposition Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) denounced irregularities in the counting and issuance of the electoral records, the president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, appeared at a press conference announcing that Nicolas Maduro had emerged as the winner of the contest.
LOOK: Venezuela’s CNE declares Nicolás Maduro the winner despite opposition allegations of irregularities
The announcement came as a surprise to many, especially considering that opposition candidate Edmundo González had an estimated 30% lead in the election according to the latest polls on voting intentions.
The governments of Peru, Argentina, Chile and the United States, among others, have denounced that the results issued by the CNE are unreliable and have even asked for a recount of the votes supervised by independent bodies.
While the Nicaraguan regime of Daniel Ortega, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, Bolivian President Luis Arce and his Honduran counterpart Xiomara Castro congratulated Maduro on the victory.
Trade He spoke about this with journalist, international policy analyst and professor at the Faculty of Communication at the University of La Sabana, Fernando Cvitanic.
– What is your analysis of the CNE’s surprise announcement?
Maduro’s previous election had already been quite fraudulent, now I don’t know if the international community will act much more firmly, isolating the Maduro regime. He won’t be the first dictator to fix an election, we have Ortega in Nicaragua and nothing happened either. The only one who had “bad luck” was Evo Morales who ended up falling.
– Can we say then that this is the great test to see how far the real power of the international community reaches?
It is totally in the hands of the international community. It is time for the OAS to act once and for all, because ever since I have known it, it has been making statements. The right obviously will not recognize (Maduro’s victory), but it is time for the Latin American left to speak out as well. They would be in a very bad position supporting an illegitimate government. Mathematically, it is impossible for Maduro to win with all the numbers against him. Even if it were a normal election, we could verify that Maduro’s government has been disastrous, so it would be very unlikely that he would be reelected. He could not be reelected under any circumstances.
– In a minimally normal scenario we would be talking about another result…
Of course. Impossible. What ruler would accept that 7 million people flee their country, and besides, what is coming now will be a tragedy for Peru, for Chile, not to mention Colombia, with millions of people who are going to migrate. And this also created, and it is important to say, a very worrying feeling of xenophobia in our countries towards Venezuelans. What has happened is a tragedy, it is a scandal, these elections together with the Pinochet plebiscite have been the Latin American processes that have had the most people in suspense and have been laughed at in the face of the whole world.
– There is a five-month period between the election and the start of the new government in Venezuela, what can we expect during this time?
Well, I don’t know what popular reaction there will be starting tomorrow (today). These five months could be a nightmare for the “elected president” and they could also be a nightmare for the protesting crowds. The regime is going to repress the marches with the legitimacy of a victory that they claim to have obtained. What Maduro said (about a bloodbath) was taken as one of Maduro’s follies, but unfortunately it may be true that people go out to march and that the government, backed by his version, is dedicated to repressing them. What will happen with the opposition figures, with María Corina Machado, with Mr. Edmundo González, but also what will happen with the bordering countries, what will be the reaction of Petro, Lula, Boric, the government of Bolivia. All of that is in doubt with this result.
