Venezuela's opposition faces setback after countries suggest repeat of presidential election

SAO PAULO — Venezuela's opposition was dealt a blow Thursday when countries that had been pressuring President Nicolás Maduro to release vote tallies backing his claim to victory in last month's presidential election began suggesting a repeat of the contest instead.

The proposal from the leftist governments of Brazil and Colombia, both Maduro allies, came less than three weeks after the results of the highly anticipated election came into question when the main opposition coalition revealed it has proof that its candidate defeated the president by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

The opposition categorically rejected any plan to redo the election.

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, during a virtual news conference with Argentine media, said that repeating the July 28 presidential election would be ''an insult'' to the people, and she asked if a second election were held and Maduro still didn't accept the results, ''do we go for a third one?''

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden expressed support for new elections in comments to reporters that the White House later appeared to back away from.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council, whose members are loyal to the ruling party, declared Maduro the winner hours after polls closed. But unlike previous presidential elections, the electoral body has not released detailed voting data to back up its claim that Maduro earned 6.4 million votes while Edmundo González, who represented the Unitary Platform opposition coalition, garnered 5.3 million.

Meanwhile, González and Machado stunned Venezuelans when they revealed they obtained more than 80% of the vote tally sheets issued by every electronic voting machine after polls closed, that they said showed González winning by a wide margin.

Their revelation prompted governments around the world, including Colombia, Brazil and the U.S., to call on Maduro and the electoral council the publish a breakdown of results.

The opposition has consistently expressed the need for the international community's help to get Maduro to accept the unfavorable results of the election.

Unlike many other nations that have either recognized Maduro or González as the winner, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have taken a more neutral stance by neither rejecting nor accepting it when Venezuela's electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner at the ballot box. The three countries have called on Venezuela's electoral body to release tens of thousands of vote tally sheets, considered the ultimate proof of results.

On Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that still doesn't recognize Nicolás Maduro as the winner of the election and that his counterpart should call for a new vote. Colombian President Gustavo Petro later echoed the call for a new election.

''Maduro still has six months left in his term," Lula said in an interview with Radio T. ''He is the president regardless of the election. If he has good sense, he could call upon the people of Venezuela, perhaps even call for new elections, create an electoral committee and allow observers from around the world to monitor.''

Brazil is by far South America's largest nation and shares one of Venezuela's longest land borders. Under Lula, the country has been an important mediator, including in October, when Maduro's government and the opposition reached an agreement to work toward conditions for a free and fair presidential election to be held in the second half of 2024. That agreement triggered relief from U.S. sanctions.

But Maduro's government continuously tested the limits of the agreement over several months, and the U.S. reimposed the sanctions it had lifted on the oil, gas and mining sectors.

Venezuelan law allows for another vote whenever the National Electoral Council or judicial authorities annul an election found to be fraudulent or whose outcome was impossible to determine. The new election would have to take place within six to 12 months under the same conditions as the annulled vote and the same candidates must appear on the ballot.

Logistics, laws and costs aside, a new election would be a risky gamble for Maduro and his allies as July's vote and subsequent protests showed they have lost support across the country and can no longer bank on a cadre of die-hard supporters, known as ''Chavistas,'' as well as public employees and others whose businesses or employment depend on the state to comfortably beat opponents.

In contrast to the stance of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico, the U.S. government has said that the evidence is clear that González won the election.

However, when Biden was asked Thursday in Washington whether he would support new elections in Venezuela, the president said ''I do.'' Biden did not elaborate.

A White House National Security Official who was not authorized to comment publicly later told The Associated Press that Biden was speaking to the ''absurdity of Maduro and his representatives not coming clean about the July 28 elections." The official added that it is ''abundantly clear'' to the majority of Venezuelan people, the U.S., and other governments that González won the most votes in last month's election.

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.

Petro on Thursday floated several ideas to address Venezuela's political crisis including ​​''new free elections" and the establishment of a transitional government. The later had already been rejected by Machado at a news conference on Tuesday.

___

Garcia Cano reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Joshua Goodman in Miami, and Aamer Madhani and AP White House Correspondent Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.