“COMPLETELY” LOST LEGITIMACY
Machado called for greater support from the international community.
Speaking to AFP via voice notes sent while in hiding amid fears for her safety, she said the opposition was “determined to move forward in a negotiation”.
“It will be a complex, delicate transition process, in which we are going to unite the whole nation,” said the 56-year-old Machado, who was barred from running herself against Maduro.
She added that Maduro has “completely, absolutely, lost legitimacy” and that “all Venezuelans and the world know that Edmundo Gonzalez won in a landslide”.
Lawmaker Diosdado Cabello, a powerful Maduro ally, dismissed Machado’s offer.
“She is not in a position to negotiate anything,” he told reporters as he arrived at the Supreme Court, shortly before Maduro.
“Offering conditions, to whom? Here the CNE, which is the governing body, gave a result: Nicolas Maduro won”.
Giulio Cellini, a director at the political consultancy group LOG Consultancy, said the whole process was an “ambush” of Gonzalez Urrutia since both the high court and election authority are “controlled by Maduro”.
Fellow left-wing governments from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico noted the verification process undertaken by the court but asked that the CNE “transparently disclose the electoral results”.
The CNE ratified Maduro’s victory, saying he had earned 52 per cent of votes. In addition to not publishing detailed results, it has also claimed to have been hacked.
Jennie Lincoln, head of the Carter Center delegation that was invited to monitor the Venezuelan election, told AFP that it had “no evidence” of a cyberattack.
Source: CNA
