Venezuela’s disputed July 28 presidential election and the subsequent crackdown on the Opposition by the regime of President Nicolás Maduro have deepened the political divisions in the oil-rich country. According to the National Electoral Council, Mr. Maduro, President since 2013 upon the death of Hugo Chavez, won 51%, while his main opponent Edmundo González secured 43%. But the Opposition claims that the tally sheets issued by electronic voting machines, suggested Mr. González’s hands down victory. The Opposition claim was backed by the U.S. and other western countries, while Mr. Maduro got confirmation of his victory from his hand-picked Supreme Court. Rejecting calls to quit, he has unleashed the crackdown. At least 24 people have been killed and 2,400 arrested in relation to the protests since the results, according to the Human Rights Watch. Last week, police surrounded the Argentine embassy in Caracas where some Opposition figures had taken refuge. Mr. Maduro had already sacked Argentina’s diplomatic mission after its President, Javier Milei, supported Mr. González. Mr. González, a retired diplomat who faces charges for incitement of protests, left for Spain on September 7.
The election has not been fair from the beginning. The Opposition’s original pick to counter Mr. Maduro was María Corina Machado, a former lawmaker. After she was banned by the comptroller-general, a Maduro ally, from holding public office, Mr. González was chosen later. The election process itself was disputed, and three weeks after the vote was held, the authorities are yet to release results by individual polling stations. Mr. González’s flight could be a temporary victory for Mr. Maduro, who has tightened his grip over every branch of the state, but his challenges are far from over. Venezuela, which is also under U.S. sanctions, has seen rapid economic decline and a rise in extreme poverty. About 7.7 million people have fled in recent years amid hyperinflation, economic contraction and scarcity for food and medicine. Mr. Maduro has also seen growing regional pressure, with even left-wing governments of Brazil, Chile and Colombia urging him to publish the full results. The tensions between Venezuela and Brazil came out in the open when the Maduro regime revoked Brasilia’s authorisation to manage and represent the Argentine embassy. With his legitimacy in question, Mr. Maduro, grappling with a sanctions-hit, mismanaged economy, a divided polity at home, and growing isolation abroad, is behaving like a dictator. He has turned Chavez’s popular Bolivarian project into a one-man rule with socialist rhetoric. This allows him to cling on to power, for now, but at a great cost to the people of Venezuela.