Maduro's Hold On Power 'unsustainable': Venezuelan Opposition Leader To AFP

Caracas, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 28th Sep, 2024) Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's hold on power is "unsustainable" given the widespread rejection of his claim to reelection, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told AFP on Friday.

"The regime is absolutely delegitimized... an international pariah," 56-year-old Machado, who has been mostly in hiding since the July 28 vote, told AFP via Zoom.

"Maduro is trying to convey to his remaining supporters that the situation will stabilize, that the world will turn the page and we Venezuelans will be silent. And that will not happen."

The system, said Machado, was "financially, diplomatically and, most importantly, socially unviable. It is an unsustainable situation."

Venezuela's CNE electoral authority, loyal to the regime, had declared a victory for Maduro within hours of polls closing, with 52 percent of votes cast.

But most of the international community has refused to accept his win without a detailed vote breakdown, which has not been forthcoming.

The opposition published its own tally of polling station-level results, which it says proves its candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia had won two-thirds of votes cast.

The United States has said there was "overwhelming evidence" Gonzalez Urrutia had won.

Gonzalez Urrutia was a last-minute placeholder candidate for the Democratic Unity Platform (PUD) opposition coalition led by Machado, who herself was disqualified from running by institutions loyal to Maduro.