A 'charade': Western countries reject Venezuela's election results

Caracas: The United States, the European Union and more than a dozen Latin American countries have said they will not recognise the results of a parliamentary election in Venezuela, which returned control of Congress to President Nicolas Maduro.

Just 31 per cent of 20 million eligible voters participated in Sunday's election, the electoral council said on Monday, Caracas time, less than half the turnout rate in the previous congressional elections in 2015. The opposition had boycotted the vote, calling it a farce meant to consolidate a dictatorship.

A soldier and the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (mural) keep an eye on voters at a polling booth in Caracas.Credit: AP

An alliance of parties called the Great Patriotic Pole that backs Maduro won more than 67 per cent of votes cast, with more than 82 per cent of the votes counted, according to broadcaster Telesur. Opposition parties received nearly 32 per cent.

The results return the congress to Maduro's control, despite an economy in tatters, an aggressive US sanctions program, and a migrant exodus.

Socialist Party Vice-President Diosdado Cabello called the result "a great victory for the revolution".

"The United States, along with numerous other democracies around the world, condemns this charade which failed to meet any minimum standard of credibility," US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said the election "failed to comply with the minimum international standards".

The Lima Group of American countries, which was created in 2017 to seek a regional solution to the Venezuelan crisis and includes Brazil and Colombia, said the elections were carried out "without the minimum guarantees of a democratic process" and "lacks legality and legitimacy".

"We call on the international community to join in the rejection of these fraudulent elections," the Lima statement said.

Earlier in the year, the Supreme Court had put several opposition parties in the hands of politicians expelled from those same parties for alleged links to Maduro — one of the major reasons the opposition had called the vote a sham.

The elections council was also named without the opposition's participation, and Maduro refused to allow meaningful electoral observation. Maduro allies have said the electoral conditions were the same as a 2015 parliamentary vote the opposition won, and the government paid no heed to foreign criticism.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks after casting a ballot on Sunday.Credit: Bloomberg

"Venezuela already has a new National Assembly," Maduro said early in televised remarks that were muted in comparison with his frequent triumphalism. "A great victory, without a doubt."

The opposition in 2015 won control of the National Assembly in a landslide, but the pro-Maduro Supreme Court blocked even the most basic legislation. In 2017, Maduro supplanted parliament with the creation of an all-powerful parallel body known as the National Constituent Assembly.

Opposition legislators nonetheless used the platform to denounce Maduro around the world for human rights abuses, corruption, and economic mismanagement, proving a constant thorn in the side of the Socialist Party.

Flanked by party members, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, centre, stands during a press conference, a day after parliamentary elections. Guaido is recognised by dozens of countries as the president of Venezuela.Credit: AP

Opposition leader Juan Guaido last year also used his role as speaker of the National Assembly to stake a claim to be Venezuela's legitimate president, on the basis Maduro's 2018 re-election was rigged, earning the recognition of more than 50 countries including the United States and Australia.

Pompeo said Washington would "continue to recognise interim President Guaidó and the legitimate National Assembly".

Retaking control of the congress will give Maduro few meaningful tools to restart an economy where a monthly salary or pension is often less than the cost of a kilo of meat or a carton of eggs.

It may lend his government more legitimacy to offer oil industry deals to companies willing to risk US sanctions to tap the OPEC nation's huge oil reserves.

But even traditional allies such as Russia and China, typically the most likely to challenge US sanctions, have shown scant interest in an oil industry hollowed out by years of decay and the emigration of its most talented professionals.

The opposition is calling on sympathisers to participate in a December 12 "consultation" that will ask citizens whether they reject the results and want a change of government.

Reuters