Opposition calls for protests over presidential poll

Venezuela’s opposition party has called for protests to be held worldwide on 17 August in support of its claim to have won the country’s presidential election.

President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner by the government-controlled electoral commission, which handed him a third consecutive term in office.

The opposition says its candidate, Edmundo González, was the real winner, and has called for the commission to release detailed data from polling stations.

This call has been backed by the European Union and the US while a number of other Latin American nations have so far held off recognising Mr Maduro as the winner of last month’s poll.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado posted a video on social media in which she said Venezuelans should “take to the streets” worldwide on Saturday 17 August in support of her party’s claim of victory.

“Let’s shout together for the world to support our victory and recognize truth and popular sovereignty”, she said on Sunday.

Her party published a data set online shortly after the 28 July election which it says proves Mr González won by a wide margin.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there was “overwhelming evidence” that Edmundo González had won the most votes.

The Maduro government, however, insists that the result announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE), which is stacked with its allies, is the only valid one.

Mr Maduro has said he will publish the vote tallies, but has not specified when.

He accused the opposition of producing fake evidence to contest the result of the election and said the US was behind what he described as a farce and a coup attempt.

Mr González, who replaced Ms Machado as the opposition’s candidate after she was banned from running, also called for national and worldwide protests in support of “the truth”.

Both have been in hiding – Ms Machado wrote in the Wall Street Journal that she is fearing for her “life” and “freedom.”

The government has said Ms Machado should be arrested.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Venezuela and other Latin American countries after the official poll result was contested.

The government says more than 2,000 people have been detained, some of which it accuses of “terrorism”.

Some opposition figures have also been held in the last few weeks.

María Oropeza, a campaign co-ordinator for opposition coalition Vente Venezuela, live-streamed her detention on Instagram.

In a video, loud bangs could be heard in the background as she told her followers that she had done nothing wrong. Officials from Venezuela’s military counter-intelligence agency then burst through her door and the video cuts to black.

Members of the security forces have seized Freddy Superlano and Roland Carreño – both of whom worked for the opposition party Popular Will – and Ricardo Estévez, a technical adviser for the same opposition movement as Ms Oropeza.

Last week, Mr González refused to appear at the country’s Supreme Court after it summoned all presidential candidates for an audit of the disputed vote.

He later said he would have risked his freedom and “the will of the Venezuelan people” by attending.

Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which the opposition sees as aligned with President Maduro, said on Saturday that it was continuing to assess the election and that its ruling would be “final and binding.”