Diplomatic efforts to persuade Maduro to release Venezuela election vote tallies

Diplomatic efforts are under way to persuade Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to release vote tallies from the country’s presidential election, according to officials from Brazil and Mexico.

Opposition leaders have disputed his claim of victory and calls for an independent review of the results are mounting.

Government officials from Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have been in constant communication with Mr Maduro’s administration to convince him that he must show the vote tally sheets from Sunday’s election and allow impartial verification, a Brazilian government official told The Associated Press.

The officials have told Venezuela’s government that showing the data is the only way to dispel any doubt in the results, a Brazilian official said.

A Mexican official confirmed that the three governments have been discussing the issue with Venezuela but did not provide details. Earlier, Mexico President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said he planned to speak with Brazil President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Colombian President Gustavo Petro, and that his government believes it is important that the electoral tallies be made public.

On Wednesday, Mr Maduro asked Venezuela’s highest court to conduct an audit of the election, but that request drew almost immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review.

It was not clear if Mr Maduro’s first concession to demands for more transparency was the result of the discussions with Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Venezuela’s president confirmed during a news conference on Wednesday that he had spoken with Mr Petro about it.

Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice is closely aligned with Mr Maduro’s government. The court’s justices are proposed by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Mr Maduro’s sympathisers.

Mr Maduro’s main challenger, Edmundo Gonzalez, and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado say they obtained more than two-thirds of the tally sheets that each electronic voting machine printed after polls closed. They said the release of the data on those tallies would prove Mr Maduro lost.

Asked why electoral authorities have not released detailed vote counts, Mr Maduro said only that the National Electoral Council has come under attack, including cyber attacks.

The presidents of Colombia and Brazil – both close allies of the Venezuelan government – have urged Mr Maduro to release detailed vote counts.

The Brazilian official said the diplomatic efforts are only intended to promote dialogue among Venezuelan stakeholders to negotiate a solution to the disputed election. The official said this would include the release of voting data and allowing independent verification.

Mr Lopez Obrador said Mexico hopes the will of Venezuela’s people will be respected and that there is no violence. He added that Mexico expects “that the evidence, the electoral results records, be presented”.

Pressure has been building on the president since the election.

The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Mr Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela, has yet to release any results broken down by voting machine, as it did in past elections.

The electoral council reported that Mr Maduro received 5.1 million votes, versus more than 4.4 million for Mr Gonzalez. But Ms Machado, the opposition leader, has said vote tallies show Mr Gonzalez received roughly 6.2 million votes compared with 2.7 million for Mr Maduro.

Venezuela has the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves and once boasted Latin America’s most advanced economy, but it entered into freefall after Mr Maduro took the helm in 2013. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation that soared past 130,000% led to social unrest and mass emigration.

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America’s recent history.