CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) 鈥� on Wednesday asked Venezuela鈥檚 high court to conduct an audit of the presidential election after opposition leaders disputed his claim of victory, drawing criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.
Maduro told reporters that the ruling party is also ready to show all the vote tally sheets from Sunday's election.
鈥淚 throw myself before justice,鈥� he said outside the Supreme Tribunal of Justice headquarters in the capital, Caracas, adding that he is 鈥渨illing to be summoned, questioned, investigated.鈥�
This is to demands for more transparency about the election. However, the court is closely aligned with his government; the court's justices are proposed by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro sympathizers.
The Carter Center, which sent a delegation to Venezuela to monitor the election, criticized Maduro's audit request, saying the court would not provide an independent review.
鈥淵ou have another government institution, which is appointed by the government, to verify the government numbers for the election results, which are in question,鈥� said Jennie K. Lincoln, who led the delegation. 鈥淭his is not an independent assessment.鈥�
The Atlanta-based group said Tuesday night that it was unable to verify the announced results and criticized what it called a 鈥渃omplete lack of transparency鈥� in declaring Maduro the winner. Venezuela鈥檚 electoral authorities allowed the Carter Center to send 17 observers.
Maduro's main challenger, , and opposition leader say they obtained more than two-thirds of that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed. They said the release of the data on those tallies .
Maduro insisted to reporters that there had been a plot against his government and that the electoral system was hacked. Asked later on during a news conference why electoral authorities have not released detailed vote counts, Maduro said the National Electoral Council has come under attack, including cyber-attacks.
鈥淓ngineers are fighting right now鈥� to solve those attacks, he said without elaborating.
The government presented some videos that the president said showed people attacking and torching some electoral offices. The Associated Press was not immediately able to verify the images.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said more than 1,000 people related to some of those attacks have been arrested.
Pressure has been building on the president since the election. The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to his United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine, which it did in past elections.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a close Maduro ally, joined other foreign leaders Wednesday in urging him to release detailed vote counts.
鈥淭he serious doubts that have arisen around the Venezuelan electoral process can lead its people to a deep violent polarization with serious consequences of permanent division,鈥� Petro said on the social platform X.
鈥淚 invite the Venezuelan government to allow the elections to end in peace, allowing a transparent vote count, with the counting of votes, and with the supervision of all the political forces of its country and professional international supervision,鈥� he added.
Petro proposed that Maduro鈥檚 government and the opposition reach an agreement 鈥渢hat allows for the maximum respect of the (political) force that has lost the elections.鈥� The agreement, he said, could be submitted to the United Nations Security Council.
His comments came a day after another ally, Brazilian President Luiz In谩cio Lula da Silva, along with U.S. President Joe Biden, called for the 鈥渋mmediate release of full, transparent, and detailed voting data at the polling station level.鈥�
Brazil鈥檚 presidential office refused to comment Wednesday on whether an audit by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice would amount to an independent verification. Instead, it pointed to a Monday statement from the Ministry for Foreign Relations saying the government awaits 鈥渢he publication by the National Electoral Council of data broken down by polling station, an indispensable step for the transparency, credibility and legitimacy of the election result.鈥�
Lula said of Maduro on Tuesday that 鈥渢he more transparency there is, the greater his chance of having peace to govern Venezuela.鈥�
The Organization of American States convened for an extraordinary session Wednesday, but members were unable to reach a consensus on a resolution to pressure Venezuelan authorities to 鈥渋mmediately鈥� publish the granular results and verify them in the presence of international observers. Seventeen nations voted in favor of the resolution, one short of the threshold required for passage. Eleven abstained, and five were absent.
According to Machado, the opposition leader, the vote tallies show Gonz谩lez received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Maduro. That is widely different from the electoral council's report that Maduro received 5.1 million votes, against more than 4.4 million for Gonz谩lez.
Venezuela has the and once boasted Latin America鈥檚 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 .
More than 7.7 million since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America鈥檚 recent history. Many have settled in Colombia.
Speaking to reporters in Vietnam on Wednesday, the European Union's foreign affairs chief said the bloc won't recognize Maduro鈥檚 claim of electoral victory without independent verification of voting records.
鈥淭hey should have been provided immediately, as in any democratic electoral process,鈥� Josep Borrell said.
Within hours of the electoral council saying Maduro had won, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Caracas and other cities. The protests, which continued into Tuesday, turned violent at times, and law enforcement responded with tear gas and rubber pellets.
The Venezuela-based human rights organization Foro Penal said 11 people, including two minors, were killed in election-related unrest.
Maduro鈥檚 closest ruling party allies quickly came to his defense. National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez 鈥� his chief negotiator in dialogues with the U.S. and the opposition 鈥� insisted Maduro was the indisputable winner and called his opponents violent fascists. He called for Machado and Gonz谩lez to be arrested.
Machado and Gonz谩lez urged their supporters to remain calm.
鈥淚 ask Venezuelans to continue in peace, demanding that the result be respected and the tally sheets be published,鈥� Gonz谩lez said on X. 鈥淭his victory, which belongs to all of us, will unite us and reconcile us as a nation.鈥�
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Salomon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Ella Joyner in Brussels and Eleonore Hughes in Rio de Janeiro contributed.
Regina Garcia Cano And Gisela Salomon, The Associated Press
