CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) 鈥� As thousands of people demonstrated across Venezuela, opposition candidate Edmundo Gonz谩lez on Monday announced that his campaign has the proof it needs to show he won the country's disputed election whose victory electoral authorities handed to
Gonz谩lez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters they have obtained from Sunday's election, and they show Gonz谩lez with more than double Maduro鈥檚 votes. Both called on people, some of whom protested in the hours after Maduro was declared winner, to remain calm and invited them to gather peacefully at 11 a.m. Tuesday to celebrate the results.
鈥淚 speak to you with the calmness of the truth,鈥� Gonz谩lez said as dozens of supporters cheered outside campaign headquarters in the capital, Caracas. 鈥淲e have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory.鈥�
Their announcement came after the National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro鈥檚 ruling Unites 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 the caravan, a brawl broke. 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.
A man fired a gun as the protesters moved through the city鈥檚 financial district. No one suffered a gunshot wound.
The demonstrations followed 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.
鈥淲e have never been moved by hatred. On the contrary, we have always been victims of the powerful,鈥� Maduro said in a nationally televised ceremony. 鈥淎n attempt is being made to impose a coup d鈥櫭﹖at in Venezuela again of a fascist and counterrevolutionary nature.鈥�
鈥淲e already know this movie, and this time, there will be no kind of weakness,鈥� he added, saying that Venezuela鈥檚 鈥渓aw will be respected.鈥�
Machado told reporters tally sheets show Maduro and Gonzalez received more than 2.7 million and roughly 6.2 million votes respectively.
鈥淎 free people is one that is respected, and we are going to fight for our freedom,鈥� Gonzalez said. 鈥淒ear friends, I understand your indignation, but our response from the democratic sectors is of calmness and firmness.鈥�
Venezuelans vote using electronic machines, which record votes and provide every voter a paper receipt that shows the candidate of their choice. Voters are supposed to deposit their receipt at ballot boxes before exiting the polls.
After polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing the candidates鈥� 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 longtime local party coordinators who get near unrestricted access to voting centers. Those coordinators, some of whom are responsible for handing out government benefits including subsidized food, have blocked representatives of opposition parties from entering voting centers as allowed by law to witness the voting process, vote counting and, crucially, to obtain a copy of the machines鈥� final tally sheet.
Electoral authorities had not yet released the tally sheets for each of the 30,000 voting machines as of Monday evening. The electoral body鈥檚 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.
In the capital鈥檚 impoverished Petare neighborhood, people started walking and shouting against Maduro, and some masked young people tore down campaign posters of him hung on lampposts. Heavily armed security forces were standing just a few blocks away from the protest.
鈥淗e has to go. One way or another,鈥� said Mar铆a Arr谩ez, a 27-year-old hairdresser, as she joined in the demonstration.
As the crowd marched through a different neighborhood, it was cheered on by retirees and office workers who banged on pots and recorded the protest in a show of support. There were some shouts of 鈥渇reedom鈥� and expletives directed at Maduro.
Several foreign governments, , held off recognizing the election results.
After failing to oust Maduro during three rounds of demonstrations since 2014, the opposition put its faith in the ballot box.
The country sits atop the world鈥檚 largest oil reserves and once boasted Latin America鈥檚 most advanced economy. But after Maduro took the helm, it tumbled into a free fall marked by plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages of basic goods and hyperinflation of 130,000%.
U.S. sought to force Maduro from power after his 2018 reelection, which dozens of countries condemned as illegitimate. But the sanctions only accelerated the exodus of some 7.7 million Venezuelans who have fled their crisis-stricken nation.
Voters , boosting the opposition鈥檚 hopes it was about to break Maduro鈥檚 grip on power. The electoral council's results came as a shock to many who had celebrated, online and outside a few voting centers, what they believed was a landslide victory for Gonz谩lez.
Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile, called the results 鈥渄ifficult to believe,鈥� while U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had 鈥渟erious concerns鈥� that the announced tally did not reflect the actual votes or the will of the people.
In response to criticism from other governments, Maduro鈥檚 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 Machado's, including her campaign manager, who have sheltered for months in the Argentinian embassy in Caracas after authorities issued arrest warrants against them.
Gonz谩lez was the unlikeliest of opposition standard bearers. The 74-year-old was unknown until he was tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Machado, who was blocked by the Maduro-controlled supreme court from running for any office for 15 years.
Authorities set Sunday鈥檚 election to coincide with what would have been the 70th birthday of former President Hugo Ch谩vez, the revered leftist firebrand who died of cancer in 2013, leaving his Bolivarian revolution in the hands of Maduro. But Maduro and his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, which controls all branches of government, are more unpopular than ever among many voters who blame his policies for crushingly low wages that spurred hunger, crippled the oil industry and due to migration.
The president鈥檚 pitch this election was one of economic security, which he tried to sell with stories of entrepreneurship and references to a stable currency exchange and lower inflation rates. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will grow 4% this year 鈥� one of the fastest in Latin America 鈥� after shrinking 71% from 2012 to 2020.
But most Venezuelans have not seen any improvement in their quality of life. Many earn under $200 a month, which means families struggle to afford essential items. Some . A basket of food staples to feed a family of four for a month costs an estimated $385.
The opposition behind a single candidate after years of intraparty divisions and election boycotts that torpedoed their ambitions to topple the ruling party.
A former lawmaker, Machado swept the opposition鈥檚 October primary with over 90% of the vote. After she was blocked from joining the presidential race, she chose a college professor as her substitute on the ballot, but the National Electoral Council also barred her from registering. That鈥檚 when Gonz谩lez, a political newcomer, was chosen.
Gonz谩lez and Machado focused much of their campaigning on Venezuela鈥檚 vast hinterland, where the kind of economic activity seen in Caracas in recent years never materialized. They promised a government that would create sufficient jobs to attract Venezuelans living abroad and reunite with their families.
Joshua Goodman And Regina Garcia Cano, The Associated Press
