Venezuela’s Electoral Crisis Outrages Church Leaders and Governments Around the World

Washington, D.C. Press Office, August 2, 2024, 6:31 p.m.

Venezuelan authorities are facing increasing pressure to conduct a transparent recount of votes in the presidential election scheduled for July 28.

President Nicolás Maduro secured another six-year term in office with 51 percent of the vote, while his opponent Edmundo González received 44 percent, according to the government-controlled National Electoral Council.

However, many of Maduro’s opponents point to the fact that no detailed, official results have been presented.

In a July 30 statement, the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference announced that it “joins its voice” to the demands of the world for the election results to be verified, while also calling on people to “stand firm in hope.”

In Venezuela, voters use electronic machines that print a receipt showing which candidate they have chosen and drop the receipts into ballot boxes before leaving the polls. After the polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing how many votes each candidate received, and copies are given to both electoral authorities and party officials stationed at the polls.

Maduro’s opponents claim they have so far captured 81% of the revenue from Venezuela’s voting machines, thanks to the efforts of witnesses at polling centers. According to the opposition, 67% of all votes from those machines went to Gonzalez, as opposed to the 30% that Maduro received.

María Corina Machado, a leading opponent of Maduro’s government and González’s campaign partner, told the Guardian this week that “(Maduro) should understand that he has been defeated.”

Countries around the world have demanded that Venezuela conduct a fair recount and publish all available electoral records. As a result of their protest, over the past week, diplomats from Argentina, Panama, Peru, Chile, Costa Rica, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic have been expelled from the country by Maduro’s government.

On August 1, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement recognizing González as the winner of the election, citing the “overwhelming evidence” of González’s victory, which is “obvious to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people.”

Under Maduro, Venezuela has struggled with poverty, food shortages, and rising crime and mortality rates. As many as 7.7 million Venezuelans have fled the country since 2014 amid unrest, according to the U.S.-based UNHCR.

The current Venezuelan government has also been criticized for its investigations and silencing of opponents, including Catholic priests. In 2018, Maduro reportedly called several Catholic clergy who spoke out against unrest in the country “devils in cassocks,” stating that the Catholic Church in Venezuela is “full of evil, poison, hatred, perversion and slander.”

In response to the election controversy, Maduro has asked Venezuela’s Supreme Court to conduct an audit of the presidential election. He told reporters he was ready to “throw himself into the hands of justice” and was “ready to be summoned, questioned, investigated,” drawing criticism from opponents who say the court is too closely tied to Maduro’s government to conduct a fair audit.

Demonstrations and violence have also intensified across Venezuela over the past week. Masked gunmen ransacked the headquarters of a Venezuelan opposition party at around 3 a.m. Friday. The attackers stole valuable documents and equipment related to the election results, according to Machado, who went into hiding after threats of arrest from Maduro.