"An article about the background, results, and aftermath of the July 28th Venezuela's Election" --Aphrodite Avidon, 8th Grade
The July 2024 Venezuelan election has created controversy and international concern as both candidates claim victory amidst allegations of fraud. This comes at a time when Venezuela has massive inflation, widespread poverty, and a declining population, sparking a political and economic crisis.
In 2023, Venezuela’s inflation had cooled. Prices were still up 337% from the previous year but much lower than the total 100,000% since 2017. The country with the highest inflation and growing poverty rate has an estimated 91% of people living in poverty, and 68% living in extreme poverty, the second highest in South America, and one of the poorest countries in the world.
A 2021 World Bank report shows that Latin America's poverty rate is 30.3%. That number is similar to the poverty rate in Venezuela in 2012, the year before President Nicolas Maduro was elected.
Maduro, who took the office of president in early 2013, following the death of President Hugo Chavez, has been elected three times since, including the most recent 2024 election. In 2017, the Venezuelan legislature passed laws moving Maduro closer to having a “one-man rule”, and many American politicians have referred to him as a dictator, including President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Reasons for the massive poverty increases and extreme inflation could be a result of sanctions from Western countries, reports say. Former President Donald Trump was a main contributor in putting sanctions on Venezuelan oil, one of the country's main exports.
In addition to a failing economy and high poverty, the nation also has increasing crime rates and a declining population. Estimates say 288 people emigrate daily, meaning over 100,000 people leave annually.
On March 5th, Maduro called for the Venezuelan election to be held on July 28th, giving candidates 15 days to register their candidacy, receive party nominations, and appear on the ballot. Plataforma Unitaria Democrática (PUD), the centrist opposition party, announced that they would be nominating Edmundo Gonzalez, the former ambassador to the United States and Argentina in the administration of Hugo Chavez.
Edmundo Gonzalez, the 75-year-old politician became the PUD leader in 2023 after former leader Maria Corina Machado was deemed ineligible to hold office by Venezuela’s comptroller general because she spoke of support of sanctions against the country. Gonzalez argued that the government must “put away” its internal struggles, to help the nation recover. By the late election season, Gonzalez led in polls by 20 to 30 percent and was ultimately seen as very likely to win the July election.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) released results on election night, showing that Maduro received nearly 6.5 million votes or 51.95%—a narrow margin. Voters immediately doubted the results.
Venezuela recently adopted a new voting system, where Venezuelans voted for a party’s nominated candidate, with 13 parties nominating Maduro, and 3 parties nominating Gonzalez, however, every voter left a “voting receipt,” or a tally of their vote. Opposition candidates got access to over 80% of voting receipts, which showed that 7.3 million people voted for Gonzalez, or 67%. Christine Cover Ferro, a 48-year-old Venezuelan-American, said she was “shocked, terrified, grieving, nauseated, consumed with impotent rage, and numb” after hearing the CNE results, and said Maduro was “breathtakingly bad at fraud.”
Both candidates claimed victory on election night, which would soon lead to a national and international political crisis. So far, many Western countries have recognized Gonzalez as the winner, including the United States and the European Union, however, other countries such as Iran, Russia, and North Korea have recognized the CNE results and Maduro’s win.
Major protests started just days after the election, and by August 15th, 25 people had been killed and over 1,600 people had been arrested. Protests continued in major cities, as Venezuela’s high court, led by Maduro-appointee Carysila Rodriguez, summoned Gonzalez for hearings about spreading supposedly false election results. Gonzalez did not appear on either of the August court dates and, on September 2nd, a warrant for his arrest came out. On September 7th, a Spanish armed forces plane took him to Madrid.
As of September 17th, nobody knows who will be the next president of the South American nation. Reports from courts say Maduro’s results were legitimate, while other officials denounce them.
