The leader of the Venezuelan opposition Juan Guaido failed on Saturday to massively re-mobilize the opposition as in 2019, for the symbolic “consultation” he had convened against the regime of Nicolas Maduro.
The opposition, however, claimed a “historic” triumph.
The organizers of the consultation organized on the sidelines of the electoral system offered a first provisional assessment, assuring on Twitter that 6.4 million people had participated: 3.2 million presently in Venezuela, 844,728 outside of countries and 2.4 million on the internet.
The so-called “popular consultation” asked Venezuelans if they supported “all national and international pressure mechanisms” in favor of “free presidential and legislative elections” and if they rejected the December 6 elections.
This consultation started via the internet on Monday and was to be done face-to-face on Saturday on nearly 3,000 sites in the country.
On the last day of the consultation, sites planned for the vote appeared half empty. In Caracas, AFP journalists noted a low attendance on most.
The “participation in the consultation far exceeded the fraud they had organized” on December 6, however assured Mr. Guaido on Twitter, referring to the legislative elections boycotted by the bulk of the opposition, at the end. of which the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and its allies had won more than 91% of the Assembly’s 277 seats.
Blanca Rosa Marbre, of the organizing committee, assured that because of the “strong participation by Telegram, the platform was saturated”. Mr. Guaido also denounced the government’s “censorship” and the lack of support from the country’s television media to broadcast his appeal.
Less popular than he was when he proclaimed himself president in January 2019, Juan Guaido – recognized as interim president by some fifty countries, led by the United States – played his game with this symbolic consultation, before the end of his term. Speaker of parliament until January 5, he called for a boycott of the December 6 legislative elections.
“Intimidation” and “skepticism”
The opposition has reported “intimidation” and threats around the sites planned for the consultation, by “groups of pro-regime armed civilians” in parts of Venezuela and parts of the capital.
At Cota 905 (Caracas), “a consultation point” had to be closed, MP Rafael Veloz told AFP.
In the affluent district of Chacao, traditionally won over to the opposition, José Nelson Castellanos went to vote to express his rejection of the Maduro government, in power since 2013, the year of the death of Socialist President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013).
“If we are not satisfied with the situation in the country, we must do something, I know that a lot of people (…) are already skeptical about the results, but something must be done”, said this man. 56 years old at AFP.
“No legal effect”
The consultation convened by Mr. Guaido and the legislative elections organized by Mr. Maduro both recorded a high level of abstention, noted the political scientist Jesus Castillo-Molleda, for whom “the two sectors have lost the streets, they are not not connected to people’s problems ”.
For analyst Rafael Alvarez Loscher, “the opposition failed to channel discontent because it failed to achieve its goals, and that demoralized people”.
“Although they are against Maduro, few see the need to associate their name with something that has no legal or political effect,” he added.
This is not the first time that the opposition has invited to take part in a consultation organized by its own means. A similar initiative had resulted, in July 2017, in the rejection of the Constituent Assembly, a 100% “Chavist” body, installed in August of that year, after months of repressed demonstrations which had resulted in 125 deaths.
The opposition then assured to have gathered 7.6 million votes against the Constituent Assembly, which has assumed the majority of parliamentary powers and must be replaced by a new National Assembly on January 5.
In advance, Mr. Maduro had minimized the importance of the consultation convened by Guaido, whom he designated as a “charlatan” and a “puppet” in the hands of the United States.
“Nobody could believe that this consultation by Internet has a legal, constitutional value, only an informative value”, he had affirmed Thursday in front of the deputies, without designating Mr. Guaido by his name.