CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 The Carter Center said it was unable to verify the results of\u00a0Venezuela\u2019s\u00a0presidential election, blaming authorities for a \u201ccomplete lack of transparency\u201d in\u00a0declaring Nicolas Maduro the winner\u00a0without providing any individual polling tallies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement Tuesday night by the Atlanta-based group is perhaps the harshest rebuke yet of Venezuela\u2019s chaotic election process because it comes from one of just a handful of outside groups invited by the Maduro government to observe the vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe electoral authority\u2019s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles,\u201d the Carter Center said. The group, which had a technical mission of 17 experts spread out in four cities across Venezuela, added that the election did not meet international standards and \u201ccannot be considered democratic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Carter Center\u2019s harsh criticism capped a second long day of\u00a0protests against the results by opponents of Maduro\u00a0who said their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, trounced the incumbent by a more than two-to-one margin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maduro\u2019s government hasn\u2019t taken lightly to the criticism and ratcheted up their attacks on their opponents Tuesday, with some allies suggesting the opposition\u2019s most influential leader and a presidential candidate be arrested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A day after\u00a0Maduro\u00a0was declared the winner by a National Electoral Council that is loyal to him and the ruling party, the attacks, which were aired on national television, followed the opposition\u2019s surprise release of detailed voting data that it said shows that Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez won by a landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The electoral council has not released any results from the polling center level, which come from tally sheets that the more than 30,000 electronic voting machines print after polls close. It is not obligated to do so, but in previous elections it has posted the figures online within hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
United States President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva spoke by phone and\u00a0agreed that Venezuela must release the data, saying the election\u2019s outcome \u201crepresents a critical moment for democracy in the hemisphere,\u201d according to a White House summary of the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden and Lula \u201cagreed on the need for immediate release of full, transparent, and detailed voting data at the polling station level by the Venezuelan electoral authorities,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Venezuela has the\u00a0world\u2019s largest proven crude reserves\u00a0and once boasted Latin America\u2019s most advanced economy, but it entered into free fall after Maduro took the helm in 2013. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared past 130,000% led to social unrest and mass emigration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than 7.7 million\u00a0Venezuelans have left the country\u00a0since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As both sides defended their claim to victory, thousands of their supporters took to the streets of the capital, Caracas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A huge crowd of opposition supporters gathered outside the United Nations\u2019 offices. Opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado, standing atop a truck, called on the National Electoral Council to release\u00a0the tally sheets, saying, \u201cWhy don\u2019t they publish them?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machado said the main opposition coalition has obtained more than 84% of the tally sheets, which show Gonz\u00e1lez garnered more than twice as many votes as Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe only thing we are willing to negotiate is the peaceful transition,\u201d Machado said, as the crowd chanted: \u201cWe have no fear!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opposition supporters elsewhere in the city were met with tear gas Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attorney General Tarek William Saab told reporters that more than 700 protesters were arrested in nationwide demonstrations Monday. He added that one officer was killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machado and Gonz\u00e1lez urged their supporters to remain calm and avoid violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd remember this figure, when the tally sheets are counted, yours truly will have more than 8 million votes,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez said, flanked by his wife and Machado, whom Maduro\u2019s government barred from running for political office for 15 years. \u201cWe are going to begin the reconstruction of Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their celebration came hours after the Organization of American States lambasted the government for not releasing the data and suggested a new election that would be monitored by international observers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe worst form of repression, the most vile, is to prevent the people from finding solutions through elections,\u201d the OAS said in a statement. \u201cThe obligation of each institution in Venezuela should be to ensure freedom, justice, and transparency in the electoral process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maduro\u2019s closest ruling party allies came to his defense. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez \u2014 his chief negotiator in dialogues with the U.S. and the opposition \u2014 insisted Maduro was the indisputable winner and called the opposition violent fascists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Praising the arrest of the protesters, he said Machado should be jailed and so should Gonz\u00e1lez, \u201cbecause he is the leader of the fascist conspiracy that is trying to impose itself in Venezuela.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Diosdado Cabello, a lawmaker and ruling party leader, later said: \u201cWe are going to screw them because these people do not deserve to shed one more drop of blood for fascism.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker T\u00fcrk expressed alarm over the post-election climate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHundreds of people have been arrested, including children. This troubles me deeply,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cI am alarmed by reports of disproportionate use of force by law enforcement officials along with violence by armed individuals supporting the Government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long lines of residents started to build Tuesday outside supermarkets and other stores in Caracas in apparent anticipation of a prolonged period of demonstrations that could lead to food shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the port city of La Guaira, people\u00a0toppled a statue\u00a0of Maduro\u2019s mentor and predecessor,\u00a0the late Hugo Ch\u00e1vez, dragged it to the street and set it on fire during Monday\u2019s protests. Maduro unveiled the statue in 2017, and by Tuesday all that remained was its base, littered with twisted rebar and broken cement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The election\u00a0was among the most peaceful in recent memory, reflecting hopes that Venezuela could avoid bloodshed and end 25 years of single-party rule. The winner would take control of an economy recovering from collapse and a population desperate for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a televised meeting of the National Defense Council on Tuesday, Maduro blamed retired diplomat Edmundo Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia for \u201cthe criminal violence, the criminals, the wounded, the dead, the destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou will be directly responsible, Mr. Gonz\u00e1lez Urrutia, and you, Mrs. Machado, and justice has to come, in Venezuela there has to be justice because these things cannot happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, speaking from the balcony of the presidential palace, Maduro called Gonz\u00e1lez a coward and challenged him to face him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCome after me!\u201d he yelled. \u201cShow me your face. \u2026 Where are you hiding, mister coward?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machado stunned Venezuelans on Monday when she announced that the opposition had acquired the tally sheets, which showed that Gonz\u00e1lez received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Maduro. Hours earlier, the electoral council reported a count of about 5.1 million for Maduro, against more than 4.4 million for Gonz\u00e1lez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Machado said the opposition created a searchable website with images of each tally sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The number of eligible voters was estimated to be around 17 million. Another 4 million Venezuelans are registered but\u00a0live abroad, and many did not meet the requirements to register to cast ballots overseas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Machado and Gonz\u00e1lez stood atop the truck, supporters began chanting \u201cPresident! President!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis gathering smells like triumph,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez told them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) \u2014 The Carter Center said it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3425,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3424"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3426,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3424\/revisions\/3426"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.viewworld.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}