Arrest warrant issued for Venezuela’s opposition presidential candidate

A Venezuelan judge has issued an arrest warrant for the opposition’s former presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as part of a criminal investigation into the results of the disputed July election.

The warrant was issued at the request of authorities who accuse Mr Gonzalez, a former diplomat, of various charges including conspiracy, falsifying documents and usurpation of powers.

The request came after failed to appear three times to answer questions from prosecutors in a criminal investigation stemming from the disputed election results.

Attorney general Tarek William Saab opened the investigation against Mr Gonzalez after he and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado revealed what they said were the results shown in the tally sheets and published them online.

“They have lost all sense of reality,” Ms Machado wrote on X, referring to President Nicolas Maduro’s government after the attorney general’s office published the warrant request on Instagram.

“By threatening the president-elect, they only manage to unite us more and increase the support of Venezuelans and the world for Edmundo Gonzalez.”

Mr Gonzalez, 75, has not made any public appearances since the day after the election and accused Mr Saab, a longtime ally of Mr Maduro, of being a “political accuser” who “condemns in advance.”

Electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared Mr Maduro the victor of the July 28 election, hours after polls closed.

They did not show detailed results to support their claim as they had offered in previous presidential elections.

The opposition managed to obtain more than 80% of vote tally sheets and said they show Mr Maduro lost by a wide margin against Mr Gonzalez.

The lack of transparency has drawn international condemnation.

An Associated Press review of the tally sheets released by the opposition indicates that Mr Gonzalez won significantly more votes than the government has claimed.

The analysis casts serious doubt on the official declaration that Mr Maduro won.

The AP processed almost 24,000 images representing the results from 79% of voting machines, resulting in tabulations of 10.26 million votes.

The processed tally sheets also showed Mr Gonzalez receiving more votes on 20,476 receipts, compared to only 3,157 for Mr Maduro.