Venezuela opposition says its victory is irreversible, citing 73% of vote tallies

By Mariela Nava, Mircely Guanipa and Vivian Sequera

CARACAS/MARACAIBO/MARACAY, Venezuela (Reuters) -Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Monday the country's opposition has 73.2% of the voting tallies from Sunday's election, allowing it to prove election results it says give it a victory.

The national electoral authority has proclaimed incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the vote, giving him a third term in office and extending 25 years of socialist party rule.

But independent pollsters called that result implausible, and opposition leaders and foreign observers urged the electoral authority to release vote tallies.

The tallies in possession of the opposition showed a total of 2.75 million votes for Maduro and 6.27 million for his rival, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, Machado said.

The numbers were sharply different to the 5.15 million votes the electoral authority said Maduro had won, compared to 4.45 million for Gonzalez.

Witnesses assigned to observe vote counts have a right to a copy of each voting machine's tally, but the opposition said overnight that some witnesses were blocked from following counts and that at other sites the tallies were not printed.

The opposition has long warned about whether the vote would be fair, saying decisions by officials and the arrests of opposition staff were meant to create obstacles.

The electoral authority said just after midnight Maduro had won 51% of the vote. Later it proclaimed Maduro president for 2025 to 2031, adding he had won "the majority of valid votes."

Governments in Washington and elsewhere cast doubt on the results and called for a full tabulation of votes.

Independent exit polls pointed to 65% support for Gonzalez and between 14% and 31% backing for Maduro.

At least two people were killed in connection with the vote count or protests - one overnight in the border state of Tachira and another in Maracay on Monday.

Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela on Monday, including near the presidential palace in Caracas.

Gonzalez has repeatedly warned against bloodshed.

But Maduro, whose 2018 re-election is considered fraudulent by the United States and others, said in evening remarks on state television that paid agitators had assaulted electoral agency offices.

"We know how to confront this situation and how to defeat those who are violent," Maduro said.

Jorge Rodriguez, a ruling party lawmaker and Maduro's campaign manager, called for supporters to march in support of the government on Tuesday.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino warned against allowing a repeat of the "terrible situations of 2014, 2017 and 2019". Anti-government protesters took to the streets those years and hundreds were killed.

Machado had called on the country's military to uphold the results of the vote. The armed forces have long supported Maduro and there have been no public signs leaders were breaking from the government.

Machado also called on supporters to gather on Tuesday in front of United Nations offices in Caracas.

PROTESTS TURN VIOLENT

Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela, with the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory saying it had registered 187 protests in 20 states.

"We're fed up with this, we want freedom," motorcycle taxi driver Fernando Mejia, 41, said as he marched in Maracay.

The street protests followed earlier "cacerolazo" demonstrations - a traditional Latin American protest in which people bang pots and pans - throughout the country.

In the Caracas neighborhood of El Valle and the city of Maracay, police fired tear gas, while protesters blocked a part of a major in Barquisimeto.

In Coro, the capital of Falcon state, protesters tore down a statue depicting late president Hugo Chavez, Maduro's mentor.

An opposition adviser said on social media that security forces had made two failed attempts to enter the Argentine embassy in Caracas where he and five others have been living since March after warrants were issued for their arrests.

Many Venezuelan voters despaired at news of another six-year term for Maduro, who has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population and sanctions imposed by the United States and others which have crippled an already struggling oil industry.

"Maduro yesterday shattered my greatest dream, to see my only daughter again, who went to Argentina three years ago," said retiree Dalia Romero, 59, in Maracaibo. "I stayed here alone with breast cancer so that she could work there and send me money for treatment."

"Now I know that I'm going to die alone without seeing her again," she said through tears.

INTERNATIONAL REACTION

U.S nonprofit the Carter Center, which sent observers for the vote, called on the electoral authority to immediately publish the results by polling station.

A source said further information from the group would not be released until its final report.

Biden administration officials accused the government of "electoral manipulation". They did not announce any new punitive measures but left open the door to additional sanctions.

Brazil and the European Union called for transparency over polling data.

Venezuela's bonds and those of state oil firm PDVSA fell deeper into distressed territory on Monday.

Venezuela's attorney general Tarek Saab said the results had been delayed by an attack on the electoral system from North Macedonia. He did not offer any evidence.

(Reporting by Mariela Nava in Maracaibo, Mircely Guanipa in Maracay and Vivian Sequera, Deisy Buitrago, Mayela Armas and Julia Symmes Cobb in Caracas; additional reporting by Keren Torres in Barquisimeto, Tibisay Romero in Valencia, Tathiana Ortiz in San Cristobal and Maria Ramirez in Puerto Ordaz Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb and Oliver Griffin; Editing by Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff, Rosalba O'Brien and Michael Perry)