Nicolas Maduro

It is not surprising that the victory of Nicolas Maduro in the Venezuelan presidential election is embroiled in a controversy. The opposition is saying that it would contest it, and Maduro, who has been president ever since Hugo Chavez died of cancer in 2013, has claimed a resounding victory.

He also believes that the election was transparent. Maduro, like his mentor Chavez, believes in the populist credo that the large masses of people are with him. But populist leaders are also dictatorial. They do not tolerate opposition. And it is no different with Maduro. Maduro got 51.2 per cent of the vote, and the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia secured 44.2 per cent.

Maduro as the incumbent president had been exerting unfair influence. The opposition’s candidate was Maria Corina Machado, who was disqualified. But the opposition had to find an alternative in Gonzalez, and Machado campaigned for him. The people have been distressed with the Maduro government. Due to an acute economic crisis, seven million of 30 million Venezuelans had to migrate from the country.

There was genuine anger and discontent. It is because of this palpable feeling against the Maduro government that the opposition was confident that it was winning. It is clear that there has not been enough transparency in the electoral process. The opposition wants details of voting from each of the 30,000 voting stations in the country, but they have not yet been disclosed.

Many of the Latin American leaders are sceptical about the legitimacy of Maduro’s victory. The only countries that support Maduro are Cuba, Bolivia and Honduras. Costa Rica, Peru, Uruguay and Chile do not think that the process has been fair enough. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has said that the US had concerns about the electoral process.

Machado, the popular opposition leader who gave way to Gonzalez, said, “We want the whole world to know that we won in every sector, and every state in the country. We know what happened today. We’ve been making sure all the information was collected and reported. This shows the results. It is irrefutable.” Gonzalez said, “Our struggle continues and we’ll not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.”

But Gonzalez assured that the opposition supporters will not go out on to the streets and they will indulge in violence. What the opposition is banking on is the undoubted disillusionment of the people with the Maduro government. Machado and Gonzalez have no doubt that the electoral result does not reflect the popular mood.

It is the misfortune of countries like Venezuela which had moved from one extreme of right-wing authoritarianism to populist left-wing authoritarianism that democratic norms are not allowed to survive. People’s criticisms are not allowed to be heard. So democracy in its proper sense of the term is not existent. There will be times when one side will have an upper hand, and sometimes the other.

In a functional democracy the switch in the mood of the people is reflected. But in authoritarian governments using democracy as a shield, the voice of the people is marginalised. It seems to be the case that people are fed up with Maduro’s mishandling of the economy, and they want him out.

If Maduro respected democratic norms, he would have people’s will to prevail. But those in power in authoritarian regimes do not let power go out of their hands because of the fear that they will be persecuted by the others who come to power. And in an authoritarian system, the political opponents are harassed and victimised. This is a characteristic of politics in the developing countries.