Venezuela’s Maduro Dismisses Power Sharing, New Election Proposals

Mexico City, Mexico, August 19, 2024 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro rejected proposals for a power-sharing agreement with the opposition and the possibility of holding new presidential elections, calling instead for respect for the country’s institutions and for the ongoing review by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice (TSJ).

The suggestions came from neighboring presidents, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro and Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, respectively. Together with Mexico, the countries have self-appointed themselves as mediators in the ongoing post-electoral dispute in Venezuela, with US backing. 

Maduro outright brushed off the suggestions, viewing them as an affront to Venezuela’s sovereignty, repeating his assertion on Monday.

“Venezuela is not an intervened country, nor do we have guardians. We do not interfere in anyone’s internal affairs,” said the Venezuelan president in a televised broadcast.

On Thursday, Petro suggested in a social media post that Colombia’s experience with the National Front governments, which saw the Liberal and Conservative parties agree to a power-sharing agreement between 1958 and 1974, could provide a model for Venezuela amidst opposition claims of fraud in the July 28 election.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Maduro the winner of the election with 51.95 percent (6.4 million votes) compared to 43.18 percent (5.3 million votes) for US-backed opposition candidate Edmundo González. 

Elsewhere, Lula suggested in a radio interview that one possible solution could be fresh elections. That proposal was likewise rejected by Maduro.

“[Bolsonaro] also cried fraud and didn’t accept defeat and it was the Brazilian court that decided,” declared Maduro when asked about his Brazilian counterpart’s proposal.

“We do not practice microphone diplomacy,” he added.

Lula’s proposition was briefly welcomed by the White House before a spokesperson walked back comments from President Joe Biden that appeared to accept the possibility of new elections. The confusion led Maduro to wonder how policy was being conducted in the Biden administration.

“[Biden] gives his opinion, then half an hour later he’s contradicted by spokespersons from the Department of State,” said Maduro. “In the end, who’s in charge in the United States?” he asked.

Meanwhile, for her part, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado rejected the proposal for new elections and vowed that González will take office next January. In recent years, the hardline opposition has consistently refused to recognize electoral losses, often unleashing street violence in response.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador also declined to support the proposal, instead saying that his government will wait to see the Venezuelan top court’s ruling on the matter. Venezuela’s TSJ opened a probe into the validity of the election result following a request by Maduro. Supreme Court President Caryslia Rodríguez has emphasized that the court’s ruling on the matter would be final.

Citing two sources, Reuters claimed that Mexico had withdrawn from the three-way presidential initiative on Venezuela’s election. However, the mediation role of the three countries has been overstated, as they have not been formally recognized by Venezuela. 

By his own admission, Lula has not spoken to Maduro since before the election, though he has been in regular communication with Petro. Likewise, Maduro has gone on the record to state that he has been in touch with his Colombian counterpart but to discuss bilateral matters. Venezuela is acting as a formally recognized guarantor of the Colombian peace process.

ALBA Movimientos, an umbrella organization that brings together dozens of social movements from throughout the Americas, said in a statement that they too vehemently disagreed with the foreign proposals. 

“The social and popular movements that know, love and defend the Bolivarian people, reject, as unusual and untimely, the slightest idea or suggestion, such as that proposed by some ‘progressive’ sectors of the region to develop diplomatic, political, military or of any kind of intervention in Venezuela aimed at ignoring, de facto, the result of an electoral process that has already been concluded,” read the statement.

Pro-government and opposition forces both held demonstrations over the weekend. Machado appeared at an opposition rally in Caracas, despite claiming to be in hiding, and addressed the small crowd. González did not attend.

The opposition attributed the lower-than-expected turnout to the heavy presence of security forces. The small crowd paled in comparison to opposition-led demonstrations held over the years, including during the electoral campaign, that similarly counted on a large number of police and security forces. 

Meanwhile government supporters held their own sizable rally in front of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in the capital, the latest in a long series of demonstrations from diverse sectors affirming their support for Maduro.

Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.