Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro won reelection to a third term on Sunday with just over 51% of the vote in what one group of independent election observers described as a “fair and transparent” contest, despite loud claims of fraud by the right-wing opposition — a narrative readily boosted by Western corporate media outlets.
The Consejo Nacional Electoral (CNE), Venezuela’s election authority, said Maduro won 51.2% of the vote with 80% of polling places counted. Edmundo González, an ex-diplomat and the primary opposition candidate, won 44.2% of the vote.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who was barred from running in the election, claimed without evidence that González won 70% of the vote. Surveys conducted ahead of Sunday’s contest showed González with a substantial lead over Maduro, but Jake Johnston of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) noted that “since 2015, pollsters have overestimated opposition support” in Venezuela “by an average of 29.5 percentage points.”
Nearly 60% of Venezuela’s electorate of over 21 million people turned out for Sunday’s race, according to figures from CNE, which faced calls from experts and political leaders in the region — including left-wing Chilean President Gabriel Boric — to release detailed election results in the interest of transparency.
The U.S.-based National Lawyers Guild (NLG) said in a statement that its delegation of five election observers “visited several polling sites in Caracas and La Guaira and shared notes and information with the 910 electoral observers present from 95 countries and many organizations, including the Carter Center, the United Nations, the African Union, and the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts.”
NLG’s president, Suzanne Adely, said Sunday’s elections “were not only fair and transparent but also represented an example of popular civic participation.”
“Their successful outcome is a triumph for the Venezuelan people,” Adely added, “especially considering the level of U.S. interference and attempted sabotage of the democratic process, particularly through sanctions and coercive economic measures aimed at producing ‘regime change’ in Venezuela.”
Speaking after CNE’s announcement, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has “serious concerns” that the tallied result “does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people” — a response that drew swift backlash, given longstanding efforts by the United States to overthrow the Latin American nation’s elected government and crush its economy with sanctions.
As The Washington Post’s Jeff Stein and Federica Cocco reported last week, “Sanctions on Venezuela… contributed to an economic contraction roughly three times as large as that caused by the Great Depression in the United States.”
And who knows "the will of the Venezuelan people" better than the US Secretary of State? https://t.co/XLFDkaXOS8
— Venezuelanalysis (@venanalysis) July 29, 2024
Nearly 12 years ago, when Maduro’s predecessor President Hugo Chavez was running for reelection, CEPR’s co-director Mark Weisbrot reminded readers why the U.S. government continued to “demonize” the idea of democracy in Venezuela despite former U.S. President Jimmy Carter himself calling the Latin American nation’s election system “the best in the world.”
“In Washington, democracy has a simple definition: does a government do what the State Department wants it to do?” Weisbrot wrote at the time. “The State Department tries to keep its eyes on the prize: Venezuela is sitting on 500 billion barrels of oil, and doesn’t respect Washington’s foreign policy. That is what makes it public enemy number one, and gets it the worst media coverage.”
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $150,000 in one-time donations and to add 1,500 new monthly donors.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy