Maduro accuses Venezuelan opposition of 'planned coup' amid election dispute
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says that the opposition’s actions "is a coup, a planned, evident coup."
Maduro’s remarks come following opposition, Plataforma Unitaria Democrática’s (PUD) claims of having proof its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia won the July 28 election.
The Venezuelan electoral council (CNE) declared Maduro as the winner of the election with 51%of the vote compared to 44% for PUD’s Gonzalez.
The Venezuelan President who has been re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term said to thousands of his supporters in front of Miraflores Palace, the official presidential residence in Caracas that his government will 'find' and 'capture' all who 'disturb the peace' in the Latin American nation, AFP reports.
“This is a coup, a planned, evident coup. They said they would not recognise the National Electoral Council 15 days before. And they dedicated themselves to bringing in money from the Colombian drug trafficking,” Maduro said.
Various international bodies, following the announcement of Maduro as the winner of the election, have challenged the credibility of the election.
The Organisation of American States (OAS) has labelled the vote results unreliable while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and U.S. President Joe Biden called on the CNE to publish election tallies.
