Venezuelans rebuke president by staggering margin
National Assembly.
Organisers had hoped a large turnout and a lopsided result would widen rifts within the ruling party and deepen the government’s international isolation, undermining Maduro’s plan to appoint an assembly of handpicked supporters to draft a new constitution.
Shortly before midnight, a group of Venezuelan university administrators tasked with overseeing the vote count said that more than 7,186,000 ballots had been cast. Organisers hailed the outcome and the turnout.
“This country demonstrated once again that it conquers its aspirations through the vote,” Cecilia García Arocha, the head of the Central University of Venezuela, said as she announced the results.
“This fight was born on the street and today it continues and will continue to be waged on the streets until we restore democracy and liberty,” Leopoldo López, an opposition leader released from prison and placed under house arrest last weekend, said on Twitter. “Today millions decide and establish a mandate. No one should doubt that it is binding and that we must defend it and ensure it is heeded.”
Voters were asked whether they rejected the effort to hold a constituent assembly that has not been approved by voters; whether they wanted the country’s armed forces to uphold the current constitution and the decisions of the opposition-run National Assembly; and whether they wanted free elections to pick a new “national unity government”.
The Venezuelan Constitution passed under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, in 1999 includes a provision authorising popular consultations as a means of safeguarding “people’s exercise of their sovereignty”. Venezuela’s election commission did not play a role in Sunday’s vote, which was run by volunteers. The opposition, citing the constitution, says the vote is binding, but the government dismisses it as illegitimate.
While Maduro is widely expected to ignore the outcome, organisers hope that it invigorates a protest movement that has gained momentum over the past couple months. Tensions have soared across Venezuela amid widespread food and medicine shortages and spiralling inflation.
For ordinary Venezuelans, Sunday’s vote was the first opportunity to cast ballots since the 2015 legislative elec- tion that ended the United Socialist Party’s dominance of the National Assembly. The government has postponed every election that was scheduled to take place since then.
While the vote unfolded smoothly in most cities, there were scattered reports of violence and intimidation, including a death in the outskirts of Caracas, the capital. Voters waited in line for hours to slip ballots printed on simple paper into old cardboard boxes that bore logos of items such as toilet paper and doughnuts.
Daniela Ramos, 64, a homemaker in Caracas, said she was voting with a heavy heart. One of her daughters, a mother of two, was killed during a robbery. The killing prompted her other daughter to move to the US. “I vote so my daughter can come back,” she said. “I vote for my slain daughter.”
Rainiero Paz, 39, was stunned by the turnout. “This exceeded our expectations; I haven’t even seen this during presidential elections,” said Paz, who lost his job at a warehouse after Maduro ordered wage increases.
While opponents of the government lined up to vote, Maduro loyalists held a “drill” for the constituent assembly, calling on supporters to participate in a mock voting exercise that was cov- ered widely on state-run news outlets. The turnout for that was notably thin.
Attorney General Luisa Ortega, who recently broke ranks with Maduro and has criticized his plan to convene a constituent assembly as undemocratic, stopped by an opposition-run voting station. As she greeted voters, one told her, “Welcome to freedom.”
Ortega’s husband, a lawmaker from Maduro’s United Socialist Party, cast a ballot responding only to the first question.
Abroad, opposition leaders set up dozens of polling stations in cities with large communities of Venezuelan expatriates. In Rio de Janeiro, voters lined up at a park next to a large banner that read “SOS Venezuela”.
“Our best weapon is this: our vote,” said María Carolina Ceballos, 31, who had aVenezuelan flag wrapped around her shoulders. “We reject violence and we will continue to defend Venezuela always through democratic means.”