It’s been two years since the illegitimate election of Nicolás Maduro, during which time Venezuela has plunged into even greater turmoil and suffering.
Within five days of the May 20, 2018, election, 46 countries declared the results illegitimate, according to the Electoral Integrity Project. The Project is an independent academic program based at Harvard University in the United States and the University of Sydney in Australia.
The reason so many countries decried the election? Evidence continued to come to light that exposed the election as fraudulent.
Voter turnout during the 2018 presidential election was historically low, which suggests voter suppression, according to the Electoral Integrity Project. Venezuela’s National Electoral Council reported that 46 percent of voters went to the polls to cast a vote while, according to Associated Press News, turnout in the previous three presidential elections averaged around 79 percent.
In addition to a record low voter turnout, State Department officials found other ways that the elections were unfairly manipulated.
Since Maduro was first elected, his regime:
- Unconstitutionally allowed the Supreme Tribunal of Justice — instead of the Venezuelan National Assembly — to appoint regime loyalists to the National Electoral Council, which was borne out in 2016 when the National Electoral Council blocked a recall referendum against Maduro.
- Banned major opposition parties and leaders from participating in the election.
- Stifled the free press, even though Venezuelan election law dictates that all press coverage be free and fair. Maduro’s cronies dictated most media coverage, which unfairly favored Maduro.
- Traded food for the votes of hungry Venezuelans, using the Fatherland Card to track who voted for Maduro and then subsequently rewarding them with government food boxes.
To avoid a repeat of the undemocratic elections of 2018, the democratically elected National Assembly and the U.S. State Department have put forward a new national framework to restore democracy to Venezuela.
The framework proposes a “broadly acceptable transitional government to administer free and fair presidential elections,” to root out the preexisting corruption of the Maduro regime and start afresh while also fully adhering to the country’s constitution, Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said in a statement.
“We believe this framework protects the interests and equities of all Venezuelan people who desperately seek a resolution to their dire political, economic, and humanitarian crisis, and who know Venezuelans can have something better,” Pompeo said.