Anti-Nicolas Maduro protests gather pace, President accused of 'stealing' election

Caracas: Opponents and supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro planned to rally on Tuesday as protests and clashes spread after a weekend election was awarded to the long-ruling socialist despite opposition claims of a landslide victory.

Renewed instability in the South America oil producer brought divided international reaction-the US said Maduro's re-election had no credibility and was mulling more sanctions, while China and Russia congratulated him. Protests began after the election board declared Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of votes to extend his "Chavista" movement's rule.

The opposition, which considers the election body in the pockets of a dictatorial government, said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had over twice as many votes as Maduro.


Many Venezuelans staged "cacerolazos", a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger. Some blocked roads, lit fires and threw petrol bombs at police as protests proliferated, including near the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas.

Police with shields and batons in Caracas and the city of Maracay fired tear gas to disperse some protests. A local monitoring group, the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory, said it had registered 187 protests in 20 states by 6 pm on Monday.

Musk weighs in
Meanwhile, Elon Musk waded in on Monday, as he took to X to accuse Maduro of "major election fraud." "Shame on Dictator Maduro," Musk said. Maduro, in turn, trashed Musk as "the archenemy of Venezuela's peace."