–turnout was minimal in vote on referendum intended to rubber-stamp Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo region

A REFERENDUM intended to rubber-stamp Venezuela’s claim to about two-thirds of Guyana seems to have backfired.
Nicolás Maduro had hoped to leverage his country’s century-long claim to the Essequibo region to mobilise public support, but word is that voting stations across the country were largely quiet on Sunday, as most voters shunned the issue.
The turnout appeared so underwhelming that the Venezuelan Government has been widely accused by analysts of falsifying the results.

“The Venezuelan people have sent Maduro a very strong message, and I do hope that Maduro has taken note of what they’ve said,” said Robert Persaud, Guyana’s Foreign Secretary, on Monday.
Guyanese officials would not comment directly on the results, but sources close to the government told the UK Guardian they were “relieved” by the surprisingly poor turnout.

Venezuela has laid claim to the oil-rich Essequibo region ever since it gained independence from Spain in 1811, alleging that its borders were drawn up unfairly in an act of international collusion.
The controversy is being reviewed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), but Maduro had pleaded for weeks on TikTok and national TV for the Venezuelan public to back the government to take matters into its own hands.

Among the five questions asked on Sunday were whether Venezuela should ignore the international arbitrators in The Hague, grant Venezuelan citizenship to Essequibo’s English-speaking inhabitants, and convert the 160,000 sq km of territory into a new Venezuelan state.
But voting stations across the country were largely empty, both national and international media reported.

“I have seen no independent reports of queues anywhere in the country. It looked like a normal Sunday in Caracas,” says Phil Gunson, analyst at International Crisis Group, an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict. “It was a resounding failure for Maduro,” Gunson added.
Nonetheless, Maduro was quick to hail the vote, in which 95 per cent of those who voted yes to the government’s five questions, as a victory.

Venezuela’s government has said that more than 10.5 million people voted in the referendum, which would be a higher number than those who voted to re-elect Maduro’s more popular predecessor, Hugo Chávez, back in 2012.
Venezuela’s electoral authority said it had extended the voting window on Sunday evening due to “massive participation”.
The government’s figures have been widely scrutinised, however, given what analysts say, they do not correspond with the scenes at voting stations.

“They haven’t admitted it explicitly, but it’s obvious [they rigged the results],” Gunson said.
An image purported to have been shared and later deleted by Venezuela’s electoral authority showed a table with about two million votes for each of the five questions, suggesting that they tallied the number of votes rather than voters to spin the public relations disaster.
The Venezuelan government has not published any detailed or regional results, adding to doubts about their validity. (The UK Guardian)