CARACAS: Streets were largely empty in towns and cities across Ven­ezuela and opposition supporters we­re subdued on Monday after Pres­ident Nicolas Maduro and opposition rival Edmundo Gonzalez both clai­m­ed victory in a tense weekend election.

Few businesses were open and public transport was scarce, as governments in Washington and elsewhere cast doubt on official results that kept the incumbent Maduro in power and called for a full tabulation of votes.

The national electoral authority said just after midnight that Maduro had won a third term with 51 per cent of the vote — a result that would extend a quarter-century of socialist rule.

But independent exit polls pointed to a big opposition win following enthusiastic shows of support for Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Gonzalez has not called for supporters to take to the streets and has warned against violence, even as reports trickled in of arrests and intimidation of his supporters.

US President Joe Biden’s administration accused Venezuela of electoral manipulation and repression and said Caracas’ announcement that President Nicolas Maduro had won a third term in office had been stripped of “any credibility.”

Russia, China, Cuba, Honduras and Bolivia cheered Maduro’s alleged victory.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and nine Latin American countries — Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay — called for a “complete review” of the results.

Panama’s President Jose Raul Mulino said his country will pull its diplomats out of Venezuela and suspend diplomatic ties.

Published in Dawn, July 30th, 2024