Maduro condemns US 'trap', thanks allies for support

The U.S. described the elections announced by the National Election Council (CNE) as questionable. According to them, the CNE failed to provide any data or publish vote tally sheets to corroborate their final results.

“The CNE’s rapid declaration of Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the presidential election came with no supporting evidence.  The CNE still has not published disaggregated data or any of the vote tally sheets, despite repeated calls from Venezuelans and the international community to do so.  As the independent Carter Center’s observation mission reported, the CNE’s failure to provide the precinct-level official results, as well as irregularities throughout the process, have stripped the CNE’s announced outcome of any credibility.

Protests emerged following allegations by opposition members and supporters of Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia that the election was rigged for Maduro. At least 11 have been reported dead in the protests.

The National Election Council ratified Maduro’s win with 52 percent of the vote, while declaring 43 percent of the ballots for his closest contender Gonzalez Urrutia.

Both Maduro and the opposition called for their supporters to demonstrate this weekend, AFP reports. Machado, Gonzalez’s ally has rallied for supporters to gather on Saturday in cities to “assert the truth” about the opposition’s victory.

Meanwhile, Maduro has called for the “mother of all marches to celebrate the victory of peace” to be held on Saturday.