Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Venezuela to protest President Nicolas Maduro’s fraudulent election victory. After securing a third six-year term as president, Maduro denounced attempts to “stage a coup” in the country.
“We have witnessed a series of incidents, more than 100 violent terrorist attacks,” Maduro said on Monday, blaming the opposition for the attacks.
In the capital, Caracas, police used tear gas on Monday as crowds marched down main roads banging pots and pans, while in three cities statues of Maduro’s mentor and predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, were toppled with sledgehammers.
So what’s going on in Venezuela? What are the protests about? Here’s what we know:
What is happening in Venezuela?
On Monday, the National Electoral Commission (CNE) certified President Maduro’s reelection, a move the opposition accuses of being loyal to Venezuela’s ruling United Socialist Party, which has been in power for 25 years.
There were numerous allegations of fraud in the vote count, with opposition parties alleging that some witnesses were denied access to polling stations where votes were being counted and that election officials had prevented further ballot processing.
The government and CNE reported that Maduro won with 51% of the vote, followed by opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez with 44%. The government also accused the opposition of trying to rig the election results.
President Maduro said the opposition had “done everything possible to stop the elections.”
“They burned election materials. They burned vehicles,” he added. Maduro also said the country had been the target of a “massive hack” that had botched the electoral process.
Mr. Maduro’s victory was disputed by an opposition coalition led by Maria Corina Machado, which said on Monday it had won more than 73 percent of the votes counted, more than 6 million votes for Mr. Gonzalez and 2.7 million for Mr. Maduro.
“All tallies have been verified, digitized and uploaded to a robust web portal,” Machado said, adding that “several world leaders are monitoring the portal.”
Machado and Gonzalez, a former diplomat, are part of a united opposition movement that has overcome divisions to form a coalition known as the Platform for Democratic Unity to oppose Maduro.
How are elections conducted and what are the allegations of fraud?
In Venezuela, voters use electronic voting machines to record their vote and are issued a paper ballot showing their candidate of choice, which they are required to deposit in a ballot box before leaving the polling station.
Once the polls close, each voting machine prints out a tally of the candidates and the number of votes they received.
The ruling party tightly controls the voting system through the CNE and a network of local party coordinators.
Venezuelan law stipulates that opposition representatives can observe the voting process, the counting of votes and, most importantly, obtain copies of the final tally from the machines.
The opposition claimed some witnesses were prevented from following the vote count and results were not printed in other places.
Machado later said that based on vote tallies provided by campaign representatives, Gonzalez’s victory was “overwhelming.”
By late Monday, the CNE had not released the results from 30,000 polling stations across Venezuela, raising tensions.
Chief Prosecutor Tarek William Saab on Monday opened an investigation into Corina Machado’s alleged involvement in hacking into the data transmission system of North Macedonia’s CNE. Saab alleged that Machado was involved in a plot to manipulate the results of the vote.
How did Monday’s protests erupt?
After the results were announced, Maduro supporters went out to celebrate his victory in parts of Caracas, while hundreds of opposition supporters organized counter-demonstrations across the city, waving Venezuelan flags and chanting “Freedom!”
According to local reports, the protests began on residential balconies where people began banging pots and pans, a Latin American practice known as “cacerolazo.”
The protesters then moved onto main roads in the capital, which were soon clogged with young protesters on motorbikes waving Venezuelan flags. Local reports said the demonstrations had spread to other parts of the country, including Zulia in the northeast and Carabobo in the northwest.
“People were shocked and the belief that there had been foul play spread very quickly,” Venezuelan political scientist Carlos Pina told Al Jazeera.
“Many people will accept this idea without question and it will lead to people taking to the streets, especially in poorer areas and towns,” he added.
Pina also warned of the possibility of violence erupting within the country.
“A large part of the population has access to weapons,” Pina said, “and they are already, in a sense, going out with them, in some cases confronting the police or the colectivos,” he added.
The Colectivos are paramilitary groups loyal to Maduro.
“The colectivos are out on the streets and shooting, not at people right now. They’re just firing into the air, but they’re using weapons to counter protests, and that’s where things could get very nasty,” Renata Segura, program director at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera.
On Monday, Venezuelan human rights non-governmental organization (NGO) Penalforum recorded 46 arrests at the protests.
What options do the opposition have?
It’s unclear what the opposition will do next. Bloomberg reported that more than 100 aides and allies of Machado and Gonzalez have been arrested in recent months.
Analysts say the opposition’s accusations could be a blow to the government, especially if Machado and his colleagues can provide evidence of wrongdoing.
“Maria Corina Machado is a [massive] “Street protests should be avoided,” Pina said. “I believe what the government wants is to justify repression and stay in power. She is avoiding that. All opposition leaders are avoiding calls for violence. They are simply applying pressure to have their victory recognized.”
Both the government and the opposition have called for demonstrations on Tuesday.
The opposition has called for a “public meeting” at 11am (3pm GMT), which Machado has encouraged families and children to attend.
Pina said it may be dangerous for the Maduro government to arrest Machado at this point.
“If Corina Machado is jailed, the protests could get out of control and deal a major blow to the government,” he explained.
What are international stakeholders saying?
Many regional and global governments, including the United States and Britain, have said they are deeply concerned by the results.
Latin American countries including Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay have refused to recognise the announced results. Venezuela expelled its diplomats on Monday.
Venezuela has also suspended commercial flights between Panama and the Dominican Republic.
Countries including China, Cuba, Iran and Russia were quick to congratulate President Maduro.
The 35-nation Organization of American States (OAS) called for an emergency meeting on Wednesday to “address the consequences of the electoral process.”
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva are due to meet on Tuesday, with the Venezuela results expected to come up in their talks.
Brazil’s foreign ministry said it was waiting for the CNE to publish the polling station-by-polling station data, which it called “an important step towards transparency, credibility and legitimacy.”
