Maduro Campaign Chief Warns of Miami-Based Plot to Cry Election Fraud

from Venezuela Analysis

Jorge Rodríguez, head of President Nicolás Maduro’s reelection effort, spoke out against an alleged made-in-Miami plot by Venezuela’s far-right opposition to claim electoral fraud following Sunday’s presidential vote.

According to Rodríguez, who also serves as head of the country’s National Assembly, the opposition intends to run an independent vote count from an operations center in Miami, Florida. 

“It is not from the National Electoral Council (CNE), it is not even located in any city in Venezuela, but instead in Miami,” said Rodríguez in a press conference Monday.

Pointing to election polls favoring the US-backed opposition, leaders from Venezuela’s right-wing parties have been on a media tour alleging that their victory is virtually guaranteed and that only “fraud” could allow Maduro to be re-elected; a position that has been uncritically echoed in most media outlets.

Polling in Venezuela is considered unreliable, with pollsters historically showing a measurable pro-opposition bias.. Ahead of this election, opinion pollsters without a track record in past contests have offered wildly varying results, with either Maduro or his main rival, Edmundo González, holding sizable leads.

A leaked report from pro-opposition pollster Datanálisis reportedly predicted a narrow Maduro victory on July 28...

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