Anti-Maduro Protests Spread Over Contested Venezuelan Election
Protests spread around Venezuela and police fired tear gas in the capital Caracas as the opposition said it had voting-tally proof it won a weekend election awarded to long-ruling socialist President Nicolas Maduro.
Demonstrations began after the election board, which critics say is in the pocket of a dictatorial government, declared Monday that Maduro had won a third term with 51% of the vote, extending his “Chavista” movement’s quarter-century rule.
But the opposition said the 73% of vote tallies to which it has access showed its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez had won by a landslide, with more than twice as many votes as Maduro.
Many Venezuelans staged “cacerolazos,” a traditional Latin American protest where people bang pots and pans in anger.
