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Venezuela’s highest court has confirmed the controversial re-election of Nicolás Maduro as president, despite allegations of widespread electoral fraud in the July vote. The full vote totals, however, have not been released.
The Supreme Court’s decision came after UN election experts warned that the court lacked independence and impartiality.
The court said it had reviewed documents from the country’s electoral authority that said Maduro won just over half the vote and agreed that he was victorious. However, the reviewed documents were not made public.
The US State Department said: “The National Electoral Council’s rapid declaration that Nicolás Maduro was the winner of the presidential election came without any evidence. The CNE has still not released disaggregated data or ballots, despite repeated calls from Venezuelans and the international community to do so.”
“Meanwhile, the democratic opposition has published more than 80 percent of the ballots it received directly from polling stations across Venezuela. These ballots show that Edmundo González Urrutia received the most votes in this election by an insurmountable margin.”
Mr Maduro welcomed Thursday’s court decision as a “historic and powerful verdict”.
Announcing the court ruling, TSJ President Caryslia Rodríguez stated: “The evaluated electoral material is certified without objection and the results of the presidential elections of July 28, published by the National Electoral Council (CNE), in which Nicolás Maduro was elected President of the Republic, are considered confirmed.”
The decision is final and no further appeal can be made, she said.
Marta Valiñas, head of the fact-finding mission organized by the UN Human Rights Council, said the government had “exerted undue influence on the decisions of the TSJ” by using “direct messages to the judges and public statements”.
Francisco Cox Vial, another member of the UN fact-finding mission, said Ms Rodríguez was a member of Mr Maduro’s ruling party and had held elected office there.
Mr Maduro has led the country since 2013 and his re-election means he can serve another six-year term.
According to the UN, at least 23 protesters have been killed in anti-government demonstrations and about 2,400 others arrested since last month’s elections.
Protests broke out after the CNE declared Maduro the winner on election night without publishing the exact vote totals.
The opposition claims the results show a comfortable victory for its candidate, Edmundo González. Copies of the results collected by its election observers have been published online.
These documents, reviewed by independent experts and the media, suggest that González received 67 percent of the vote, while Maduro received 30 percent.
Several Western countries called on Venezuelan authorities to release the full election results, while other countries, including Russia and China, congratulated Maduro on his victory.
In addition to the deaths and arrests of protesters in recent weeks, the Maduro government has also launched investigations into opposition leaders accused of inciting the country’s military to commit crimes.
They have also begun passing a law in the National Assembly that would tighten regulations on non-governmental organizations and force civil servants to resign for allegedly holding opposition views.
The 2018 presidential election campaign was widely dismissed as neither free nor fair after opposition candidates were imprisoned, barred from running or forced into exile.
Sources: BBC, CNN, AP, US Department of State.
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