More protests loom in Venezuela as opposition disputes election results | Protests News

Opposition calls for ‘popular assemblies’ across nation as Nicolas Maduro’s election victory spurs fraud claims.

More protests are expected in Venezuela as opposition leaders are disputing the results of a weekend election that saw President Nicolas Maduro secure another term in power.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado called for families to turn out on Tuesday for “popular assemblies” across the South American nation.

Machado told reporters a day earlier that a review of available voting records from Sunday’s presidential contest showed that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had achieved a “categorical and mathematically irreversible” victory over Maduro.

“There are millions of citizens in Venezuela … who want to see that their vote counts,” she also posted on social media.

But Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) on Monday formally confirmed that Maduro had been re-elected by a majority of Venezuelans to another six-year term as president “for the period 2025-2031”.

The announcement fuelled widespread anger and thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets of several neighbourhoods in the capital, Caracas, and elsewhere to voice their opposition to Maduro and his government.

Thousands chanted “Freedom, freedom!” and “This government is going to fall!” during the demonstrations on Monday, which were met with tear gas and rubber bullets fired by police.

A local monitoring group, the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory, said it had registered 187 protests in 20 states by Monday evening with “numerous acts of repression and violence” carried out by paramilitary groups and security forces.

Four people also have been reported killed in the protests, according to non-profit groups.

The National Hospital Survey, a network that monitors crises in Venezuelan hospitals, said two people were killed in the northern state of Aragua and another was killed in Caracas. It said 44 people had been injured.

The Foro Penal non-profit group also reported one dead in the northwestern state of Yaracuy.

Meanwhile, Venezuela opposition party Voluntad Popular said in a social media post on Tuesday that its national coordinator Freddy Superlano had been detained.

Maduro dismisses criticism

Maduro has dismissed international criticism and doubts about the result of Sunday’s voting, saying without any evidence that Venezuela was the target of an attempted “coup d’etat” of a “fascist and counter-revolutionary” nature.

His government has also called the protesters violent agitators. “We’ve seen this movie before,” Maduro said from the presidential palace, pledging that security forces would keep the peace.

“We have been following all of the acts of violence promoted by the extreme right,” said the Venezuelan leader, who first came to power in 2013 after the death of his mentor and predecessor Hugo Chavez.

Maduro’s campaign manager Jorge Rodriguez also called for “large marches starting this Tuesday to celebrate the victory”.

Yet the results have spurred divided reactions from foreign governments, with the United States, European Union and several Latin American countries calling for a “transparent” process while Venezuela’s allies including China, Russia and Cuba congratulated Maduro.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the Venezuelan opposition must accept defeat and warned against external interference.

The election observation department of the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) said on Tuesday morning that it cannot recognise the results. The OAS is set to hold an extraordinary meeting to discuss the election on Wednesday.

The report released by the group stated that the events of election night confirmed a “coordinated strategy, which has been unfolding over the last few months, to undermine the integrity of the electoral process”.

That followed a decision by Peru to recall its ambassador to Venezuela and Panama saying it was suspending relations with the country over the disputed vote.

Caracas has hit back at the criticism, saying it was withdrawing diplomatic staff from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay. It also suspended flights to and from Panama and the Dominican Republic.

The ongoing political unrest has raised concerns about potential repression of peaceful protests, as well as a new wave of migration from Venezuela.

The country has experienced an economic collapse that pushed millions of people to leave in recent years.