Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on Monday rejected a Brazilian proposal to hold new elections as a way to resolve the political crisis sparked by July’s presidential election, the results of which the opposition contested.
“Proposal to ignore what happened on July 28 [de 2024, eleições presidenciais] It is an insult to the Venezuelan people (…) The elections have already taken place. He said that popular sovereignty is respected.
Maria Corina Machado spoke during a Zoom press conference with journalists from Argentina, Chile and Brazil.
“We went to the elections under the rules of tyranny, and people said we were crazy because there would be massive fraud that we would not be able to prove,” said the opposition figure, who was banned from running in the presidential election after winning and being denied power to hold any public office.
“I ask you if there is a second election and if you don’t like the results what happens? Do we go to a third party? On Wednesdays or Thursdays? “Until you like it,” he said, stressing that his replacement, Edmundo González Urrutia, won the July 28 presidential election with more than 70 percent of the vote.
The Venezuelan opposition leader also rejected the possibility of a coalition government in Venezuela, stressing that “this happened in democratic contexts, not in the Venezuelan case.”
He stressed: “We offer incentives and guarantees, but in a transitional phase to democracy.”
Brazilian President Lula da Silva today stressed the need for Venezuelan authorities to publish the results of the July 28 elections and proposed two solutions to the crisis, either a coalition government or new elections.
In an interview with Radio T, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said that “so far” it is not known who won the election, because the results have not been announced and it has not been possible to verify the results independently.
The Brazilian president also stressed that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was declared the winner by the National Electoral Council, “knows that he owes the whole world an explanation.”
However, Lula said he was working with Mexico and Colombia to find solutions and proposed two ideas: forming a coalition government made up of Chavistas and the opposition or calling new elections.
“Maduro has six months left in office. He is the president, regardless of the election. If he had common sense, he could even call new elections, form an electoral commission that includes opposition members and allow observers from around the world to follow.”
The Brazilian president stressed that his relationship with Maduro, which was very good in the past, had “deteriorated” as a result of “the deterioration of the political situation in Venezuela,” and that he did not want to compromise with the political situation in Venezuela.
Venezuela, a country with a large Portuguese and Portuguese-speaking population, held a presidential election on July 28, after which the National Electoral Council gave Maduro a win with just over 51% of the vote, while the opposition claims that Venezuela’s former diplomat candidate Edmundo González Urrutia received nearly 70% of the vote.
The Venezuelan opposition and several countries in the international community have denounced electoral fraud and demanded that voting records be submitted for independent verification, which the National Electoral Commission says is not possible due to a “cyber attack” of which it was allegedly the target.
The election results were contested in the streets, with security forces cracking down on the demonstrations, with more than 2,200 people arrested, 25 dead and 192 injured.
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