DC experts weigh in on what’s happening in Venezuela

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WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — This year’s U.S. presidential election isn’t the only one drawing international attention.

On July 28, Venezuelans headed to the polls to either elect a new president or re-elect President Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for over 10 years.

Maduro ran against nine candidates, including his main opposition candidate, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

Experts said the weeks leading up to the elections were full of concern.

“Venezuela has been under the same rule of the same party for 25 years. There has been, for decades, a process of undermining the democratic principles in Venezuela,” said Laura Cristina Dib, the Venezuela Program Director at the Washington Office on Latin America.

Americans released from Venezuelan prison

Henry Ziemer, a Research Associate with the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), also shared concerns.

“There were lots of concerns that the Maduro regime would simply shut down reporting of the votes and proclaim victory,” said Ziemer.

Experts’ concerns became a reality when Maduro’s government proclaimed that he won the election again, refusing to release the voting tallies.

“What we saw on Sunday [the election] is not what you would do if you won…Shutting down vote reporting, and then publishing an unaccountable number,” said Ziemer.

The Carter Center, which sent a team to observe the Venezuela presidential elections, released a statement saying there was a lack of transparency:

The Carter Center cannot verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by the National Electoral Council (CNE), and the electoral authority’s failure to announce disaggregated results by polling station constitutes a serious breach of electoral principles.

Venezuela’s electoral process did not meet international standards of electoral integrity at any of its stages and violated numerous provisions of its own national laws. The election took place in an environment of restricted freedoms for political actors, civil society organizations, and the media. Throughout the electoral process, the CNE demonstrated a clear bias in favor of the incumbent.

Voter registration was hurt by short deadlines, relatively few places of registration, and minimal public information. Citizens abroad faced excessive legal requirements to register, some of which appeared to be arbitrary. This effectively disenfranchised most of the migrant population, resulting in very low numbers of voters abroad.

The registration of parties and candidates also did not meet international standards. Over the past few years, several opposition parties have had their registrations changed to leaders who favor the government. This influenced the nomination of some opposition candidates. Importantly, the registration of the candidacy of the main opposition forces was subject to arbitrary decisions of the CNE, without respecting basic legal principles.

The electoral campaign was impacted by unequal conditions among candidates. The campaign of the incumbent president was well funded and widely visible through rallies, posters, murals, and street campaigning. The abuse of administrative resources on behalf of the incumbent — including use of government vehicles, public officials campaigning while in their official capacity, and use of social programs — was observed throughout the campaign.

The incumbent also enjoyed overwhelming positive coverage on television and radio, in terms of advertising, broadcast events, and news coverage, while the primary opposition candidate received little media coverage. In addition, authorities frequently attempted to restrict the opposition’s campaign activities. This included harassment or intimidation of people who provided services or goods to the main opposition campaign.

Still, Venezuelan citizens turned out peacefully and in large numbers to express their will on election day. Despite reports of restrictions on access to many polling centers for domestic observers and opposition party witnesses; potential pressure on the voters, such as ruling party checkpoints in the vicinity of voting centers; and incidents of tension or violence reported in some localities; voting appeared to take place in a generally civil manner.

In the limited number of polling centers they visited, Carter Center observer teams noted the desire of the Venezuelan people to participate in a democratic election process, as demonstrated through their active participation as polling staff, party witnesses, and citizen observers. However, their efforts were undermined by the CNE’s complete lack of transparency in announcing the results.

Carter Center Statement on Venezuela Election

According to the Associated Press, Maria Corina Machado – who has been leading the opposition – said González Urrutia won by a landslide based on the voting tallies it had received from campaign representatives.

“The opposition has claimed that they have 82% of the tally sheets because they were able to scan them from all over the country. With that information, they said that 67% of the votes were for Edmundo González Urrutia,” said Dib.

Many international leaders have expressed concern regarding the validity of Venezuela’s elections.

The Presidents of Mexico, Brazil and Colombia provided a joint statement calling on the electoral authorities to release proof of the votes that show that Maduro won the election.

“The fundamental principle of popular sovereignty must be respected through impartial verification of the results,” President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Gustavo Petro of Colombia and President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico said in their joint statement, according to the AP.

The Associated Press said several European countries including France, Spain, Germany and Italy expressed a similar sentiment, stating, “The rights of all the Venezuelans, especially the political leaders, should be respected during this process. We strongly condemn any arrests or threats against them.”

Venezuela’s Machado calls on the international community to step up the pressure on Maduro

The U.S. Department of State released a statement on Aug. 1 applauding the over 10 million Venezuelans who headed out to the polls to vote. Adding that unfortunately, those votes did not reflect the outcome that most of the Venezuelan people were hoping for, stating:

The CNE’s (National Electoral Council) rapid declaration of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential election came with no supporting evidence. The CNE still has not published disaggregated data or any of the vote tally sheets, despite repeated calls from Venezuelans and the international community to do so. As the independent Carter Center’s observation mission reported, the CNE’s failure to provide the precinct-level official results, as well as irregularities throughout the process, have stripped the CNE’s announced outcome of any credibility.

Meanwhile, the democratic opposition has published more than 80 percent of the tally sheets received directly from polling stations throughout Venezuela. Those tally sheets indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin. Independent observers have corroborated these facts, and this outcome was also supported by election-day exit polls and quick counts. In the days since the election, we have consulted widely with partners and allies around the world, and while countries have taken different approaches in responding, none have concluded that Nicolás Maduro received the most votes this election.

Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State

Maduro has been in office since 2013, when as Vice-President, he took power after the death of late President Hugo Chavez, who told his followers to choose Maduro to be his successor, promising that Maduro would continue with the policies that Chavez had implemented during his 14-year presidency, according to AP.

The reality, however, has been that under Maduro, the country has been facing a humanitarian crisis, with millions not being able to access basic necessities like food, water and health care, according to the Human Rights Watch.

The Human Rights Watch said Venezuelan authorities, under the orders of Maduro, have also been involved in harassing and persecuting civilians, journalists and human rights activists as a way of repression.

Many Venezuelans in the country and abroad have taken to the streets to protest following the results of the July elections.

Maduro’s government has responded to the protests by sending Venezuelan National Guard officers to maintain power and order by using force against demonstrators, even killing some, as well as detaining them, according to the Washington Post.

“I just got information from ‘Foro Penal,’ a local organization, they have confirmation of over 700 detentions,” said Dib.

Meta oversight panel says political content cuts could limit dissent in crises including Venezuela’s

So what happens now?

“Keeping up pressure is the name of the game these next couple of days and weeks. And maintaining that pressure on both on the street and at the highest levels. So, governments continuing to raise concerns, suspicions,” said Ziemer.

The results of the presidential elections have brought uncertainty about the already turbulent situation in the country.

Nearby countries are also bracing themselves for the influx of migrants who are expected to leave Venezuela and settle in neighboring countries like Colombia, Ecuador, and Chile.

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, there are almost 7.7 million migrants and refugees from Venezuela as of August 2023.

“There was a report by ‘Un Venezuela,’ which is a platform of Venezuela civil society organizations monitoring the complex humanitarian emergency and they issued a report in November of last year, and they were already predicting that the intention of migration was going to in Venezuela from 8% to 13%, which is a big increase. And then this polling, done in the electoral context showed that between 12% to 13% and around 30% of the population when asked, said that if Maduro stayed in power, they would migrate,” said Dib.

The migration might also be felt locally.

More than 13,000 migrants were sent on buses to D.C. by the governors of Texas and Arizona since April of 2022 in protest of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

Many of those migrants were from Venezuela.

“This isolation and repression and the closure of markets and everything that is happening in Venezuela only affects the population and it is also important for the international community to remain committed to providing a regional and comprehensive response from a human rights perspective to migration,” said Dib.

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