CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who insists he won the country’s July 28 election, did not answer a Supreme Court summons on Wednesday, after publishing a letter saying he would be at risk of arrest if he went.
The country’s highest court, responding to an appeal by President Nicolas Maduro, summoned the election’s 10 candidates and representatives of the parties that nominated them to attend what it said was a certification of the results.
Venezuela’s electoral authority declared Maduro the winner of the election early on July 29 with around 51% of the vote. However, the opposition says it has copies of the vote tallies which show Gonzalez won a resounding victory.
The electoral authority – which the opposition accuses of being biased towards Maduro – is yet to produce the tallies it says it has.
The opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado and Gonzalez, a 74-year-old former diplomat, said this week that it won the presidential election with more than 7 million votes, compared to Maduro’s 3.3 million votes. That result is broadly similar to that predicted by independent exit polls.
Numerous Venezuelan opposition leaders have faced arrest and imprisonment or fled into exile in recent years.
“If I go to the electoral chamber (of the Supreme Court) in these conditions I will be totally vulnerable due to powerlessness and violation of due process and I will put at risk not only my freedom but, more importantly, the will of the Venezuelan people as they expressed on July 28,” Gonzalez said in a letter posted on X earlier on Wednesday.
Representatives of three groups that supported Gonzalez’s candidacy appeared at the hearing, according to a state television broadcast.
This week, Venezuelan advocacy groups raised alarms over the so-called “operation knock-knock,” where security forces rounded up suspected protesters. Authorities say police are targeting people behind violent crimes during a wave of anti-Maduro demonstrations that followed the disputed election.
Late on Tuesday, Maria Oropeza, a coordinator for Machado’s Vente Venezuela political movement, broadcast a raid on her home in Guanare, in Portuguesa state, live on Instagram. Before the video cut out, Oropeza could be heard asking to see a warrant.
Attorney general Tarek Saab has already launched a criminal probe against Machado and Gonzalez for inciting security forces to break the law, after they published a joint letter calling for police and military to stand with Venezuela’s people.
Failing to attend the hearing on Wednesday could add to Gonzalez’s legal problems. Supreme Court president Caryslia Rodriguez and Maduro have both said anyone who does not answer the summons could be charged with contempt.
In Venezuela, contempt of court is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and fines, lawyers said.
(Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
Comments