Venezuelan judge issues arrest warrant for opposition’s former presidential candidate

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — A Venezuelan judge on Monday issued an arrest warrant for the opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo González as part of a criminal investigation into the results of the highly anticipated July election that both the ruling party and its opponents claim to have won.

The warrant was issued at the request of authorities who accuse González, a former diplomat, of various crimes including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers. The move is the latest escalation of repression against the opposition in the month after election officials declared President Nicolás Maduro had won a third six-year term in office.

Authorities sought the warrant after González failed to appear three times to answer questions from prosecutors. González, 75, has not made any public appearances since the day after the election. His campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

Prosecutors have zeroed in on thousands of tally sheets known as actas — printouts measuring several feet that resemble shopping receipts — that have long been considered the ultimate proof of election results in Venezuela. Each of the 30,000 electronic voting machines used in the July 28 election printed several copies of the sheets, whose information was also transmitted to the National Electoral Council.

Ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared Maduro the victor hours after polls closed, but they did not publish results broken down by voting machine as they had done in previous presidential elections. The National Electoral Council claimed it could not release the detailed information because its website was hacked.

By law, each party participating in the election has the right to a tally sheet from every machine. Government supporters attempted to block opposition representatives from obtaining copies of the crucial documents, but it managed to secure them from more than 80% of machines.

González and opposition leader María Corina Machado then stunned supporters and adversaries alike by announcing the documents showed Maduro lost by a wide margin against the former diplomat and publishing the records online.

As international pressure grew to release a breakdown of results, Maduro asked the country’s high court to audit the electoral process, drawing immediate criticism from foreign observers who said the court is too close to the government to produce an independent review. The magistrates of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice are proposed by federal officials and ratified by the National Assembly, which is dominated by Maduro sympathizers.

The court concluded on Aug. 22 that the vote counts published by the opposition were false and certified Maduro’s victory.

Maduro’s United Socialist Party of Venezuela refused to publish its copies of tally sheets.

González, who represented the Unitary Platform opposition coalition, was summoned to the prosecutor’s office as recently as Friday.

He has questioned the prosecutors’ actions for lack of due process guarantees and accused Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a longtime Maduro ally, of being a “political accuser” who “condemns in advance.” González rejected the interview summons arguing, among other issues, that they did not specify the condition under which he was expected to appear.

“Maduro has lost all touch with reality,” Machado wrote on X after the warrant was issued. “The arrest warrant issued by the regime to threaten President-Elect Edmundo González crosses a new line that only strengthens the resolve of our movement. Venezuelans and democracies around the world are more united than ever in our quest for freedom.”

An AP review of the tally sheets released by the opposition indicates that González won significantly more votes than the government has claimed. The analysis casts serious doubt on the official declaration that Maduro won.

The AP processed almost 24,000 images representing the results from 79% of voting machines, resulting in tabulations of 10.26 million votes. The processed tally sheets also showed González receiving more votes on 20,476 receipts compared to only 3,157 for Maduro.

The lack of transparency over the results, coupled with widespread arrests that followed anti-government protests in the days after the election, has drawn global condemnation against Maduro and his allies. Among those who have been detained are Machado’s lawyer, opposition leaders, journalists, political organizers and poll workers.

The Chilean government on Monday decried the arrest warrant for González and reiterated its “condemnation of any form of repression against opponents of the dictatorial regime in Venezuela.”

“The Chilean government calls for respect for democratic principles, as well as human rights and fundamental freedoms of all Venezuelans,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writer Nayara Batschke in Santiago, Chile, contributed to this report. ___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america