When Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner of the Venezuelan presidential election last week, there was an immediate outcry and accusations of fraud. Maduro had trailed significantly in many polls, and the National Electoral Council (CNE) didn’t provide access to voting breakdowns as it is legally required to do.
While much of the rhetoric from Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia’s supporters has been heated, left-leaning governments in the region haven’t come down on either side – despite many longstanding connections with Maduro’s administration. This marked shift within the remnants of the “pink tide” of leftist governments that dominated Latin American countries in the 00s may provide a way through the crisis, and achieve a democratic transition in Venezuela.
