Venezuela prosecutor seeks arrest warrant for opposition candidate Gonzalez | Elections News

President Nicolas Maduro claimed victory in the July poll, a result rejected by the opposition and international observers.

Venezuelan prosecutors have sought an arrest warrant for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who claims to have rightfully won July’s disputed election against President Nicolas Maduro.

On Monday, the country’s public prosecutor’s office published a letter on social media that it said it had sent to a “terrorism” judge, asking for a warrant on charges stemming from the opposition’s insistence that Maduro and his allies stole the election.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), most of its members being Maduro loyalists, declared him the winner of the July 28 vote. The outcome has been disputed by much of the international community, with the US going so far as to recognise Gonzalez as the victor.

The CNE has said it cannot publish records of the results, blaming hackers for allegedly corrupting the data. Observers have said there is no evidence for the claim.

The opposition, meanwhile, published its own polling-station election results, which it says show Gonzalez winning the race by a wide margin.

Gonzalez, a retired diplomat who replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ballot at the last minute, has been in hiding since shortly after the election.

Maduro has asked for his arrest and that of Machado, citing charges that include “usurpation” of public functions, “forgery” of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage, and “association” with organised crime and financiers of “terrorism”.

Gonzalez has so far ignored three summons to appear before prosecutors.

Protests have continued for weeks since the election. As of Monday, at least 27 people have been killed and 192 have been wounded in the unrest.