Medellín, Colombia / Caracas, Venezuela — Following a relatively calm, upbeat election day on July 28, by 11:00PM, President Nicolás Maduro appears to be making his first moves to declare victory in Venezuela’s elections.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) has not released poll results, but Maduro’s supporters are gathering in front of the Miraflores Palace, the president’s residence, in what looks like preparation for a victory speech.
What’s more, his Foreign Minister published a comunique denouncing international interference in elections in what looks like a tactic to get out ahead of the opposition.
How the day went
Venezuelans took to the polls in mass on Sunday in what have been mostly peaceful elections across the country, with some reports of voter repression and intimidation.
But as the polls closed around 6:00PM, citizen poll watchers, brought out by the opposition to exercise their right under law to monitor vote counting, began to denounce that election officials from the National Electoral Council (CNE) weren’t allowing them access to voting centers.
Standing outside Guadalupe High School in Caracas, Patricia, a lawyer and citizen election observer, told Latin America Reports, “There’s a lot of distrust from a large section of the population.”
By 7:00PM, election authorities had begun to open up voting center doors so that poll watchers could monitor the counting process. According to electoral law, “The counting of votes is public and the members of the Electoral Board will allow the presence of voters and electoral witnesses at the premises, with no limitations other than those arising from the physical capacity of the premises and the security of the electoral act.”
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado urged poll watchers to remain in voting centers until all votes were counted and the tabulations reported.
“Venezuelans, this is until the end,” she wrote on X. “That means that we all stay in the voting centers until the votes are counted and the records are obtained. We will make the truth prevail and respect Popular Sovereignty.”
As the night progressed, still awaiting poll results from the CNE, members of Maduro’s government began making vague statements about election results.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López lauded the safe and secure elections and said, “The Venezuelan people rose up to reject the sanctions,” referring to economic sanctions placed on Venezuela and members of Maduro’s inner circle by the United States and European Union.
Jorge Jesús Rodríguez Gómez, President of Venezuela’s National Assembly and a member of the ruling PSUV party, said, “We congratulate the people who voted for peace, for dialogue and for life, thank you for the resistance and courage shown. A new stage of construction is coming between all sectors and the main mission is for everyone to accelerate the welfare state of Venezuelans.”
He added, “We can’t share results … but we can smile.”
As the hours passed, the opposition grew increasingly upset with election authorities for not releasing poll results. It had been agreed that the opposition would not release the count from their independent observers until the CNE made the announcement first.
Delsa Solórzano, a deputy in the National Assembly and an opposition leader, told reporters, “They [the CNE] are impeding the transmission” of results and that they’ve denounced in front of international authorities, and that they are “conscious of what’s going on in the country.”
At 11:00PM, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil denounced meddling from international actors in Venezuela’s elections, mentioning the Lima Group as well as U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and Rick Scott, in an apparent attempt to get out in front of the opposition to make claims for election irregularities.
Sebastian Rodriguez Mora and Isabella Lapadula contributed from Caracas, Venezuela.
