Global Pan-African Movement Condemns Foreign Meddling in Venezuela’s Elections and Stands in Solidarity with the People and the Institutions that Govern the Country
On July 28,2024, the people of The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela casted their votes to elect their president. Numerous independent international delegates that acted as monitors of the elections observed the soundness, transparency, and legitimacy of the elections 1. They declared, as was also recorded in interviews with voters, that there were no disruptions to the polling stations, access to polling stations, and the whole process was safe and secure.
The National Electoral Council (NEC), which is responsible for the electoral process, declared the results for the presidential elections as follows: 51.2% of the votes went to President Nicolas Maduro, 44.2% of the vote went to Edmundo Gonzales. Thus, the people of Venezuela have re-elected Nicolas Maduro.
Moments following the declaration of the results, a number of US state officials decried the results, calling the NEC “Maduro-controlled” and supported the far-right contestant, Edmundo Gonzales, as the actual winner of the elections. The same talks about elections being stolen by Maduro were regurgitated by pro-West think-tanks (such as the Carter Center, Chatham House) and the Organization of American States. These entities have a long history of siding against anti-imperialist elected officials and often discredit their policies, and the current case against President Maduro is no different.
In order to understand the ideological and political onslaught on Maduro and his movement, one has to look at the relations the west has with the sitting president. In recent years, Venezuela experienced the most stringent sanctions that depreciated its currency, leading to discontent with the government and mass migration. In the previous elections, the US supported its puppet, Juan Guaido, to coup Maduro and transform Venezuela from its popular socialist base that serves the people to a neoliberal pro-West state with all spheres of life privatized. The war on Venezuela did not just commence with this election, it has been a long and continuous battle to hijack the country and its resources, and to make it subservient to the diktats of the United States.
The Global Pan-African Movement (GPAM) denounces the psychological, ideological, and political onslaught of the attacks on Venezuela’s sovereignty, aimed at delegitimizing its elections and their results. GPAM rejects any and all attempts to hijack the elections, and to recognize any candidate other than President Maduro, that has been officially declared by the NEC as the winner, in an election that was declared free and fair by unbiased international election monitors. We stand firm in supporting the clear and transparent election results administered by the country through the NEC and call upon all progressive and peace-loving people to support the brave Venezuelan people in defending the results of the election that returned President Maduro to power.
1 See international observers’ statements on how they experienced monitoring the elections: Black Alliance for Peace, National Lawyers Guild International, Movement for Social Justice
