Supreme Court validates contested re-election of President Nicolas Maduro

An expected decision. The Supreme Court of Venezuela, which most observers consider to be subservient to the government, validated on Thursday August 22 the re-election of President Nicolas Maduro while the opposition, which claims victory, had declared “null and void” any decision by the high court on the subject. The announcement of the re-election of the socialist president for a third term provoked spontaneous demonstrations, which were brutally repressed. They left 25 dead, 192 injured and 2,400 arrests, according to the authorities.

The Court “certifies in an uncontestable manner the electoral material and validates the results of the presidential election of July 28, 2024, issued by the National Electoral Council (CNE), where citizen Nicolas Maduro Moros was elected President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela for the constitutional period 2025-2031”said its president Caryslia Rodriguez. It was Nicolas Maduro himself who had seized the Superior Court of Justice (TSJ) at the beginning of August to have his victory validated.

Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner with 52% of the vote by the CNE, which did not, however, provide the minutes of the polling stations, claiming to be the victim of a computer hack. Such an attack is considered implausible by the opposition and many observers, who see it as a maneuver by the government to avoid disclosing the exact vote count. According to the opposition, which made public the minutes obtained thanks to its scrutineers, its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the election with more than 60% of the vote.

“Gentlemen of the TSJ: no decision will replace popular sovereignty. The country and the world know your bias and, therefore, your inability to resolve the conflict; your decision will only aggravate the crisis”Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia said on social media in the morning, calling on Mr. Maduro to allow a “political transition” in peace.