Anti-Maduro protests spread as Venezuelan opposition claims victory

CARACAS: Protests in Venezuela spread on Tuesday as anger grew over the awarding of Sunday’s election to President Nicolas Maduro despite opposition claims that they had clinched a landslide victory.

The protests began after the election board declared on Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51 percent of votes to extend the “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.

The opposition, which considers the election body to be in the pocket of a dictatorial government, said the 73 percent of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had more than twice as many votes as Maduro.

The renewed instability brought divided international reaction: the United States said it was considering fresh sanctions on individuals linked to the election unless there was greater transparency about the vote, while China and Russia congratulated Maduro.

As well as new sanctions, Maduro’s move could spur yet more migration from a country that has shed a third of its population in recent years.

But with no sign the military will break from its long-standing support for Maduro, and with previous cycles of anti-government protests and sanctions failing to dislodge him, the mechanisms open to the opposition appear limited.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the election but spearheaded the campaign for Gonzalez, was expected to appear with him at a gathering in Caracas on Tuesday.

“Edmundo is the president. We know he won the election,” said 27-year-old brokerage worker Andrea Garcia as she waited with thousands of others for Machado’s and Gonzalez’s appearance. “We want to live in the Venezuela that our parents had, where there wasn’t hunger in the streets.”

“(Maduro) can’t govern with 80% of the country against him.”

Opposition protesters were also marching in the cities of Valencia, Maracay, San Cristobal, Maracaibo and Barquisimeto. In some locations Reuters witnesses saw marchers being attacked by security forces.

In Valencia, a protester spray-painted “fraud” on the road.

Pro-Maduro demonstrations have been organised for later on Tuesday.

At least six people had been killed around the country in incidents related to the election count or associated protests, according to rights group Foro Penal.