Venezuelans clash with police after disputed election result

 

Security forces in Venezuela have fired tear gas and rubber bullets against people protesting over Sunday’s disputed election result.

Thousands of people descended on central Caracas on Monday evening, some walking for miles from slums on the mountains surrounding the city, towards the presidential palace.

Protests erupted in the Venezuelan capital the day after President Nicolás Maduro claimed he had won.

The opposition has disputed Mr Maduro's declaration of victory as fraudulent, saying its candidate Edmundo González won convincingly with 73.2% of the vote.

Opinion polls ahead of the election suggested a clear victory for the challenger.

Opposition parties had united behind Mr González in an attempt to unseat President Maduro after 11 years in power, amid widespread discontent over the country's economic crisis.

A number of Western and Latin American countries, as well as international bodies including the UN, have called on the Venezuelan authorities to release voting records from individual polling stations.

Argentina is one country which has refused to recognise President Maduro's election victory, and in response Venezuela recalled diplomats from Buenos Aires.

Diplomats from six other Latin American countries - Chile, Costa Rica, Panama, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay - have also been withdrawn for what Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil described on social media as "interventionist actions and statements".

Venezuela's government also announced a temporary suspension of commercial air flights to and from Venezuela with Panama and the Dominican Republic starting from 20:00 local time on Wednesday.

Mr Maduro has accused the opposition of calling for a coup by disputing the results. "This is not the first time we are facing what we are facing today,” he said.

“They are trying to impose in Venezuela a coup d'etat again of fascist and counter-revolutionary character."

The Venezuelan attorney general warned that the blocking of roads or breaking any laws related to disturbances as part of protests would be met with the full force of the law and that 32 people had been detained on accusations ranging from destroying electoral materials to sparking acts of violence.

Meanwhile, US senior administration officials said that the announced result “does not track with data that we've received through quick count mechanisms and other sources, which suggests that the result that was announced may be at odds with how people voted”.

That was “the principal source of our concern”, they added.

“That is why we are asking the Venezuelan electoral authorities to release the underlying data that supports the numbers that they have publicly announced.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cw5yze5k500o