Venezuelan opposition says it has proof of election victory

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez said his campaign has the proof it won Venezuela’s disputed election whose victory electoral authorities handed to President Nicolas Maduro.

Mr Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters they have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets from Sunday’s election which show Mr Gonzalez with more than double Mr Maduro’s votes.

Both called on people, some of whom protested in the hours after Mr Maduro was declared winner, to remain calm and invited them to gather peacefully at 11am on Tuesday to celebrate the results.

“I speak to you with the calmness of the truth,” Mr Gonzalez said as dozens of supporters cheered outside campaign headquarters in the capital Caracas.

“We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory.”

Their announcement came after the National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Mr Maduro’s ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela, officially declared him the winner, handing him his third six-year term.

In the capital, the protests were mostly peaceful but when dozens of riot gear-clad national police officers blocked their path, a brawl broke out.

Police used tear gas to disperse the protesters, some of whom threw stones and other objects at officers who had stationed themselves on a main avenue of an upper-class district.

The demonstrations followed an election that was among the most peaceful in recent memory, reflecting hopes that Venezuela could avoid bloodshed and end 25 years of single-party rule.

The winner was to take control of an economy recovering from collapse and a population desperate for change.

“We have never been moved by hatred. On the contrary, we have always been victims of the powerful,” Mr Maduro said in a nationally televised ceremony.

“An attempt is being made to impose a coup d’etat in Venezuela again of a fascist and counter-revolutionary nature.”

“We already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness,” he added, saying Venezuela’s “law will be respected.”

Ms Machado told reporters tally sheets show Mr Maduro and Mr Gonzalez received more than 2.7 million and roughly 6.2 million votes respectively.

“A free people is one that is respected, and we are going to fight for our freedom,” Mr Gonzalez said.

“Dear friends, I understand your indignation, but our response from the democratic sectors is of calmness and firmness.”

Venezuelans vote using electronic machines, which record votes and provide every voter with a paper receipt that shows the candidate of their choice.

Voters are supposed to deposit their receipts at ballot boxes before exiting the polls.

After polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing the candidates’ names and the votes they received.

But the ruling party wields tight control over the voting system, both through a loyal five-member electoral council and a network of long-time local party coordinators who get near unrestricted access to voting centres.

Those coordinators, some of whom are responsible for handing out government benefits including subsidized food, have blocked representatives of opposition parties from entering voting centres as allowed by law to witness the voting process, vote counting and, crucially, to obtain a copy of the machines’ final tally sheet.

Electoral authorities had not yet released the tally sheets for each of the 30,000 voting machines on Monday evening.

The electoral body’s website was down and it remained unclear when the tallies would be available.

The lack of tallies prompted an independent group of electoral observers and the European Union to publicly urge the entity to release them.

Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile, called the results “difficult to believe,” while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had “serious concerns” that the announced tally did not reflect the actual votes or the will of the people.

In response to criticism from other governments, Mr Maduro’s foreign affairs ministry announced it would recall its diplomatic personnel from seven countries in the Americas, including Panama, Argentina and Chile. Foreign Minister Yvan Gil asked the governments of those countries to do the same with their personnel in Venezuela.

He did not explain what would happen to the staff of Ms Machado, including her campaign manager, who has sheltered for months in the Argentinian embassy in Caracas after authorities issued arrest warrants against them.