According to the National Electoral Center, Chavismo won this Sunday the non-binding referendum on the annexation of Essequibo, a 160,000 square kilometer jungle region in dispute with Guyana, with more than 90% of the vote and a turnout of almost 50% (CNE). The Venezuelan government’s intention to take over the part of Guyana that makes up two-thirds of its territory increases tensions with the neighboring country, which sees the Chavismo election call as an explicit provocation.
The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, declared three hours after the closing of the voting centers that the participation in the defense of Venezuelan sovereignty of Essequibo and the Geneva Convention of 1966 was close to “10 million people”, an electoral figure that Hugo Chávez had mentioned in his election didn’t reach the best moment. The Chavista authorities denied from the beginning that the influx of people to the voting centers was small, saying that the attendance at the polling stations was huge. Much emphasis has been placed on the fact that this entire process goes beyond the parties and that it is a national objective, although Miraflores is the place where it is taking place.
The government has launched a huge nationalist campaign to promote a map of Venezuela that adds the oil- and mineral-rich territory of Guayana Esequiba, which is larger than Portugal. Nicolás Maduro was the first to support the referendum, which can serve as a starting point for his campaign for the 2024 presidential elections, in which he will face an opposition candidate who could be María Corina Machado, winner of the primaries. The disqualification will be finally lifted. The state apparatus has promoted the vote with posters, concerts, merchandising, military rallies and incessant advertising on social networks.
Government supporters celebrate after the closure of a voting center following the end of the El Essequibo consultative referendum day. Rayner Peña R. (EFE)
However, images of empty polling stations circulated throughout the day. The absence of the people was commented on very early and was even felt in the news previews on Venezuelan state television, in which many national and regional leaders spoke about the sacred obligation and national duty. At some polling stations, the presence of active members of the National Guard and students of the National Security University, as well as other state officials, could be seen waiting their turn to cast their votes.
Some important opposition politicians, such as former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles or Governor Manuel Rosales, decided to support the initiative and take part in the vote. There were hardly any voters in the places where they cast their votes. However, the most intransigent parts of the Venezuelan opposition, which was the majority at the time, decided to question the content of the referendum and, like the People’s Will party, called on the population not to allow themselves to be manipulated. María Corina Machado explained that she would not participate in the consultation because “national sovereignty is not consulted but exercised.”
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the official command that promoted the referendum, congratulated the population for their participation and stressed that the total absence of incidents was new evidence that the Venezuelan electoral system is “one of the best in the world” due to the speed of the process . Some analysts have said the speed of voting could explain the lack of queues and that turnout could be higher than estimated by the opposition, wary of official figures.
Amoroso explained at six in the afternoon that the closure of the months was extended for two more hours, until eight in the evening, to give the opportunity to those who could not vote, as citizens continued to arrive. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino expressed satisfaction with the outcome of a “bourgeois” initiative to assert legitimate national sovereignty in Essequibo. State television news broadcasts said this was “the first referendum in defense of national sovereignty that has taken place in our history.” Diosdado Cabello also emphasized the speed of the process, the absence of incidents and the discipline of citizens.
On Friday, Guyana asked the United Nations International Court of Justice based in The Hague to suspend the Venezuelan referendum, saying it posed a threat. Chavismo considered it a victory that the organization did not explicitly suspend the process, despite the United Nations court repeating its warnings to Caracas “not to do anything that would alter the situation in the territory that Guyana de facto administers and controls.” . It clarifies the content of the dispute over the territory analyzed by the court, namely the validity of the border defended by Guyana. The judges also expressed concern about one of the questions raised in the consultation, the fifth. It was the one that caused the greatest distrust, since it gives the Maduro government public permission to establish a state in the disputed territory and grant a Venezuelan identity to just over 125,000 people who live in this strip of jungle and are already Guyanese to lend.