DISINFO: Venezuela is successfully counteracting a colour revolution
SUMMARY
The Venezuelan authorities are dealing with a post-election chaos aimed to overthrow a Venezuelan president. The colour revolution scenario has not succeeded. Thanks to the absence of whatever electoral standards in the world, the US and NATO countries are arbitrarily interpreting election results in foreign countries.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative labelling popular protests as foreign-sponsored colour revolutions.
There is no evidence pointing to any foreign involvement in the protests in Venezuela. These protests erupted after the country’s National Electoral Commission declared Nicolás Maduro as winner with 51% of the votes but did not release the minutes of voting stations, leading to accusations of fraud and widespread doubts among regional governments and international actors, who refused to recognise the results unless the minutes are published in a transparent manner.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council is not an independent body, and its members are politically appointed by the government. As a result, allegations about a Maduro victory were immediately met with skepticism, especially since no evidence was provided to back these claims. In contrast, the opposition has collected a significant proportion of vote tallies, whose examination by independent media and data analysts show that opposition candidate Edmundo González was almost certainly the real winner of the election.
In 4 August 2024 statement on post-election developments in Venezuela, the EU High Representative on Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said the National Electoral Council's delay to publish the official voting records of polling stations cast doubt on the credibility of the officially published results. It also stated that,
"Copies of the electoral voting records published by the opposition, and reviewed by several independent organisations, indicate that Edmundo González Urrutia would appear to be the winner of the Presidential elections by a significant majority."
Electoral standards exist. For instance, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has had well-established criteria to measure the fairness of elections since long ago. Detailed handbooks for electoral observation (e.g., here) are available on the OSCE’s website. The OSCE ODIHR carries out election observation in OSCE countries to assess the extent to which elections respect fundamental freedoms and are characterised by equality, universality, political pluralism, confidence, transparency and accountability.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that protests in Venezuela are definitely financed by Washington, that elections in Venezuela were free and fair, that the US is making plans for the ‘balkanization’ and fragmentation of Venezuela, or that former Colombian ambassador confessed Washington was involved in destabilisation of Venezuela and Haiti.