Venezuela’s Regime-Dominated Supreme Court Declares Maduro Winner of Election Despite Fraud Allegations

In an unsurprising ruling, Venezuela’s regime-dominated Supreme Court has sided with President Nicolás Maduro’s claims that he won last month’s election and said vote tallies posted online showing he lost by a landslide were false.

In a courtroom packed with Maduro supporters, the decision was read Thursday in response to a request by Maduro to review vote totals showing he won by more than a million votes.

The court’s decision certifying the results contradicts the conclusions of experts from the United Nations and the Carter Center, invited to observe the vote, who both said the results announced by the authorities lacked credibility.

The main opposition coalition has accused Maduro of trying to steal votes.

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Venezuelan government officials have claimed that a foreign cyberattack by hackers from North Macedonia delayed the counting of votes on election night and the release of results, but they have provided no evidence.

Gabriel Boric, Chile’s leftist president and a leading critic of Maduro’s electoral fraud, blasted the Supreme Court’s certification.

“Today, the Venezuelan TSJ has finally consolidated the fraud,” he said on his account, referring to the initials of the Supreme Court. “The Maduro regime obviously welcomes its decision with enthusiasm… There is no doubt that we are facing a dictatorship that falsifies elections.”

The move is Maduro’s latest attempt to dampen international protests and criticism that erupted after a disputed July 28 vote in which the self-proclaimed socialist leader sought a third six-year term, the Associated Press reported.

It is widely believed that Maduro won last month’s elections in his country fraudulently. Many regional governments have cast doubt on the official vote count, which gave Maduro 51.2% of the vote, with 80% of polling stations reporting results.

The opposition claims the results are not accurate and claims it won the election with 70% of the vote.

“In Venezuela, a territory occupied by the Axis of Evil, the justice system is essentially non-existent due to the complete absence of the rule of law,” Isaias Medina III, a former UN Security Council diplomat and Harvard Mason Fellow, told Fox News Digital.

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“The separation of powers was dismantled with the rise of Chavismo, giving rise to unqualified “courts” that are merely extensions of the Maduro regime, repeating its dictates without independent judgment or integrity. The courts are a third-rate play, run by Maduro, who pays their bills.”

Polls conducted over the summer have consistently shown that the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez winning by double-digit margins.

Gonzalez was the only one of the 10 candidates who did not participate in the Supreme Court audit, a fact highlighted by the justices, who in their decision accused him of trying to sow panic, the AP reported.

When the National Electoral Council announced around midnight that Maduro had received 51% of the vote to 44% for the main opposition candidate González, the president of the National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, said the results were based on 80% of the polling stations and represented an irreversible trend.

“Over the last two decades, the socialists have completely destroyed the division of powers in Venezuela. Just like in the former Soviet Union, Maduro controls and directs not only the executive branch, but also the parliament, the electoral commission and the Supreme Court,” Jorge Jraissati, a Venezuelan and president of the Economic Inclusion Group, told Fox News Digital.

“This process began in the 2000s, when former President Hugo Chavez (who died in 2013) filled the Supreme Court with loyalists. In fact, there are shocking videos of Supreme Court judges singing songs belonging to the Venezuelan Socialist Party. Ultimately, this shows that the Venezuelan crisis cannot be resolved by the country’s institutions, because they are totally loyal to Maduro and are responsible for the political crisis we are experiencing today.”

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Although Maduro was declared the winner for a third term, the opposition claimed victory, setting up a showdown with the government over the results.

Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, condemned the outcome and criticized the Biden administration’s policies.

“Another foreign policy fiasco by the Biden-Harris team,” he wrote on X. “They relieved Maduro of Trump’s oil sanctions and freed his top money launderer and two nephews convicted of drug trafficking in exchange for a ‘promise’ to hold fair elections monitored by neutral international observers.”

Officials and lawmakers in the United States and elsewhere have expressed concern about the legitimacy of Results of the presidential elections in Venezuela after Maduro was declared the winner.

A bipartisan group of congressional leaders also claimed Maduro’s victory was fraudulent.

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“Unsurprisingly, dictator Nicolás Maduro has once again stolen a presidential election. However, what the narco-regime will never steal is the desire of the Venezuelan people to return to democracy and live in freedom after decades of tyranny.

“We must prioritize uniting the free world to reject these fraudulent election results and secure the release of the more than 300 Venezuelans who remain arbitrarily detained in torture centers as political prisoners.”

WE Secretary of State Antony Blinken He had previously said the Biden administration had “serious concerns” about the results and insisted they did not “reflect the will or votes of the Venezuelan people.”

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Protests broke out across the country on both sides following last month’s announcement.

Venezuelans have taken to the streets to protest what is widely seen as a rigged election. The protests began peacefully, but police equipped with riot gear escalated the situation, leading to violence by both protesters and police.

Protesters threw objects, including stones, at police, while police used tear gas on the crowd in an attempt to disperse it.

Maduro called the challenge to his victory an “attempt (…) to impose a coup d’état in Venezuela,” adding that “we already know this film and this time there will be no weakness.” Maduro added that “the law of Venezuela will be respected.”

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion, Peter Aitken and The Associated Press contributed to this report.