Venezuela: Australia launches world's first protest over electoral fraud

Dozens of Venezuelans in Australia protested in Sydney on Saturday to denounce electoral fraud in the July 28 elections in Venezuela and reaffirm the victory of Edmundo González Urrutia, as part of a worldwide protest against the results offered by the pro-government National Electoral Council (CNE).

“I want Venezuela free” or “Sovereignty, peaceful transition to democracy: Long live free Venezuela, glory to the brave people,” read some of the banners displayed in downtown Sydney, where the Venezuelan national anthem was sung.

There were also children wrapped in the Venezuelan tricolor while holding signs such as “I want to know Venezuela” or “I want to hug my grandfather,” and the attendees chanted: “Who are we? Venezuela, what do we want? Freedom!”

Venezuelan citizens voted en masse on July 28 in presidential elections, where the results announced by the CNE gave the presumed victory to Nicolás Maduro.

For this reason, the opposition, in González Urrutia’s entourage, denounced the rigging and claimed that their candidate was the one who obtained the vast majority of votes at the polls.

On Friday, the Organization of American States (OAS) demanded that the Venezuelan electoral body publish the electoral records “expeditiously,” a request that has been made by 22 other countries, including Spain, the United States and the European Union (EU).

“We won the elections outside Venezuela and inside Venezuela,” said Clara Luisa Gómez Belluttini, who has lived in Australia for eleven years, through tears and with a broken voice.

A sentiment that echoed throughout the demonstration.

The protest in the Australian capital, called in response to “the sovereignty of the people,” demands that the “real results” of July 28 be recognized, that the “real humanitarian crisis” in Venezuela be recognized, and that the international community support their demands.

“Please, we cannot be left alone. We need everyone to speak out, to make what is happening in our country visible and heard,” said Samantha Oviedo, an organizer of the protest in Sydney who had to leave Venezuela in 2016.

Venezuelans in Australia and New Zealand are among the first to join the “great protest” called by opposition leader Maria Corina Machado to “raise their voices for the truth.”

Almost three weeks after the presidential elections ended, Venezuela’s electoral body has still not published the disaggregated results.

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