Maduro Asks Venezuela Court to Verify His Victory
(Bloomberg) -- President Nicolás Maduro asked Venezuela’s top court to audit the results of Sunday’s presidential election in a bid to legitimize his self-declared victory, despite the opposition’s claim it has proof that he stole the vote.
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Speaking at the court’s headquarters in Caracas on Wednesday, Maduro said his socialist government would publish the complete tally sheets from the results of the vote. He reiterated his accusation that banned opposition leader María Corina Machado and her stand-in candidate, Edmundo González, are conspiring to sabotage the results.
“I call on the High Court to summon all the registered candidates, the 38 parties, to review this attack on the electoral headquarters and the cyberattack, to conduct an expert report to certify the electoral results of July 28,” Maduro said.
Venezuela’s top judicial body has for years been controlled by regime loyalists who have issued favorable decisions on issues from expropriations by the state to the banning of opposition political candidates.
The disputed election outcome is casting doubt on hopes that the US will lift economic sanctions any time soon, promising to leave Venezuela cut off from international capital markets and delay efforts to deal with some $150 billion of defaulted bonds, loans and legal judgments owed to creditors from Wall Street to China.
Sovereign notes due in 2034 fell 1.8 cents to 19.2 cents on the dollar, according to indicative pricing data collected by Bloomberg. Petroleos de Venezuela SA bonds due in 2035 slid 1.4 cents to 12.8 cents on the dollar, the lowest since April.
Maduro’s move Wednesday “points to further radicalization and little leeway to negotiate any exit or transition, so the only path forward seems an escalation of the conflict,” Ramiro Blazquez, head of research at BancTrust & Co., said by email.
Venezuela’s electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro appointees, said early Monday morning the incumbent president defeated opposition rival González by a margin of 51% to 44% of the votes. González and Machado, for whom he is standing in, immediately disputed that.
The opposition says it has now gathered 84% of voting tabulations to prove González is the rightful winner in Sunday’s election. The Carter Center, the sole observer of international repute that monitored the election, said late Tuesday the vote “cannot be considered democratic.”
Maduro’s regime has been hardening its crackdown on any resistance to his victory claim, with a top lawmaker calling for the main opposition leaders to be arrested. Speaking on state television, the head of congress Jorge Rodríguez said González was leading a “fascist conspiracy,” and that his campaign with Machado aimed to spark a civil war.
Shortly after, Maduro said González was a “coward” if he didn’t assume responsibility for the protests that swept Caracas after the election.
--With assistance from Maria Elena Vizcaino and Marcelo Rochabrun.
(Corrects company name in seventh paragraph.)
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