How Venezuela’s opposition proved its election win: ‘A brilliant political move’

Presidential election tallies, or actas, stream down a wall with the faces of prisoners detained amid a government crackdown, during a vigil in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday. Photograph: Matias Delacroix/AP

At the end of election day in Venezuela, an opposition-accredited observer asked for a copy of the tally showing the total votes cast for each candidate at the polling station he was monitoring.

A soldier refused, and when the observer insisted it was his legal right, dragged him to a bathroom – and locked him inside.Only when everyone else had left the polling station was the observer released.