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Venezuela’s government has said that more than 10.5 million people voted in the referendum – which would be a higher number than voted to re-elect Maduro’s more popular predecessor, Hugo Chávez, in 2012.
Venezuela’s electoral authority said it had extended the voting window on Sunday evening due to “massive participation”.
The government figures have been widely scrutinised, however, given that analysts say they do not correspond with the scenes at voting stations.
“They haven’t admitted it explicitly but it’s obvious [they rigged the results],” Gunson said.
An image purported to have been shared and later deleted by Venezuela’s electoral authority showed a table with about 2 million votes for each of the five questions, suggesting that they tallied the number of votes rather than voters to spin the public relations disaster.
The Venezuelan government has not published any detailed or regional results, adding to doubts around their validity. “If the government stands by their claim that this is a massive success they should have no difficulty in publishing the breakdown of votes,” said Geoff Ramsey, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
“This is a massive PR disaster for Maduro. They’ve been firing the propaganda machine on all cylinders for months but despite their best efforts turnout is way below what we expected,” he added.
Intelligence collected by Guyana and its allies suggest the actual turnout was fewer than 1.5 million people – less than a 10th of the population – said a source close to the Guyanese government who described the move as “rigonomics”.
“I think Maduro miscalculated in a very, very big way,” the source added.
This is a "wag the dog" move. There are presidential elections in Venezuela in 2024 in the middle part of the year. The opposition candidate is polling very well and the opposition has united around 1 candidate instead of splitting into a bunch of factions. Maduro is worried, and rightly so. Even though a lot of his opposition has voted with their feet and left the country, he has run the country into the ground and they are still getting worse.
What better way to take attention off all the domestic problems than stir up nationalistic fervor over a resource rich territory.
This is probably a PR stunt similar to what Argentina does with the Falklands. In both cases, it’s a way to appear tough in front of the domestic crowd. In reality, neither country is likely to make a move, as the end result would be a disaster for them.
This is probably a PR stunt similar to what Argentina does with the Falklands. In both cases, it’s a way to appear tough in front of the domestic crowd. In reality, neither country is likely to make a move, as the end result would be a disaster for them.
What Argentina did with the Falklands in 1982 was not a publicity stunt.
Additionally, it would be quite the logistical hurdle to invade. It's a backwater with almost no roads. It's not like Venezuela can just drive its tanks and armored vehicles up the highway and start firing. Obviously there is a huge mismatch between the two countries' forces, but much of the advanced Russian hardware in Maduro's possession (assuming it's still in working order, which is questionable given the current state of affairs) may not serve a purpose here.
Brazil is shifting troops to the border and making it known that Venezuela needn't cause trouble.
This is probably a PR stunt similar to what Argentina does with the Falklands. In both cases, it’s a way to appear tough in front of the domestic crowd. In reality, neither country is likely to make a move, as the end result would be a disaster for them.
What Argentina did with the Falklands in 1982 was not a publicity stunt.
What Argentina did with the Falklands in 1982 was not a publicity stunt.
I meant in the context of having every president since then talk about taking over, even though it was just for posturing. Argentina’s southernmost province is called Tierra del Fuego, Antartida e Islas del Atlantico Sur.
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