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Riots have erupted across Venezuela after the country's recent elections, which were highly controversial.
President Nicolás Maduro has been the leader of Venezuela since 2013, when former leader Hugo Chávez died, and he has served two six-year terms since then. Despite politically being a federal presidential republic, and adopting democracy in 1958, the government has become more authoritarian after the election of Hugo Chávez in 1998. When he died in 2013, Maduro took over, but he has claimed to be shifting the country back to a democracy.
Under Maduro's presidency, around 7.8 million Venezuelans have fled the country, and the economy has collapsed completely, motivating citizens to want a change of leader. In 2024, he told the people that there would be completely unbiased elections where everyone could vote, but recent turmoil has occurred after reported corruption in the elections. Maria Corina Machado began to lead the opposition and became extremely popular before being banned from running, supposedly because she failed to include food vouchers in her declaration of her assets. Since then, Edmundo Gonzalez has taken over the main opposing party to Maduro. Freddy Superlano, the leader of another opposition party, was reportedly kidnapped recently, raising more concerns over corruption and unfairness in the election.
When voting came around, with 80% of the votes counted, the National Electoral Council (CNE) officially announced that Maduro was the winner, contradicting the strong predictions for the opposition to take the win. The CNE stated that Maduro had won 51.2% of the votes counted, while rival Gonzalez received only 44.2%. However, Gonzalez's party collected 73% of their tallies and found that in the votes for either him or Maduro, he had won a landslide 69%-- he received 6 million votes and Maduro received only 2.7 million. Their party has shared the tally sheets with the global community to verify the results, while the CNE is yet to do so-- hinting at a possible biased count from the organization. The international community is urging for the CNE to publish the tallies, as it would ensure a completely fair election that would represent the will of Venezuelans as a whole.
Protests soon broke out on the streets against Maduro's alleged corruption, with Venezuelans taking to the streets and loudly banging pots to grab the attention of officials. Police soon responded to the peaceful protests with tough measures, using tear gas and rubber bullets to repel them. Venezuelan officials stated that the protests were in no way peaceful, claiming that the violent riots had injured at least 48 police and military officers. As a result, over 700 people were detained, and some sources stated that several people were killed as well.
If Maduro loses, Venezuela will be sent into a period of reconstruction, in which they can build their economy back up. As for Maduro, he may not be able to leave the country, as he is under investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. He is also wanted in the United States for charges of corruption and drug trafficking.
This is a developing story, so make sure to check back in future articles to view the latest updates on the actual tally count and the results of the Venezuelan election.
Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Businessman LaMarcus Thompson invented roller coasters in the 1880s to distract Americans from sin-- and New York's Coney Island was born.
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In a Sentence: The report purports to be objective, but its bias is clear.
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