Little-known paper sheets are key to declaring victory in Venezuela's election

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela was tense on Tuesday as incumbent President Nicolás Maduro and the country’s main opposition coalition both claimed that they had won Sunday’s presidential election.

The national electoral authority proclaimed Maduro the winner. The opposition, represented, by Edmundo González said it has evidence to the contrary.

Electoral authorities installed more than 30,000 voting machines, and by law the opposition had the right to have representatives at all voting centers. But not all were allowed in Sunday or were ousted before polls closed.

After the polls close, Venezuela’s electronic voting machines can print sheets tallying all the votes each counted. Experts say the best way to clear up the dispute is to release those sheets. But the National Electoral Council has not done so.

Here’s a look at what has been said and what is known:

The main discussion is coming down to the sheets. In case of any dispute, one way of solving it is by checking the tallies the government has against what the opposition parties have.

The electronic machines provide every voter a paper receipt that shows which candidate they chose. Voters are supposed to deposit their receipts at ballot boxes before exiting the polls.

After polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing the candidates’ names and the votes each received. Party representatives stationed at polling sites throughout election day get a copy of the tally sheet, and electoral authorities keep another one.

But the ruling party wields tight control over the voting system, both through a loyal five-member electoral council and a network of longtime local party coordinators who get near unrestricted access to voting centers. Those coordinators, some of whom are responsible for handing out government benefits including subsidized food, have blocked representatives of opposition parties from entering voting centers as allowed by law to witness the voting process, vote counting and, crucially, to obtain a copy of the machines’ final tally sheets.

On its website, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council traditionally posts vote counts for every machine. It has never posted images of the tally sheets.

The president of the council, Elvis Amoroso, said Monday that Maduro got 51.2% of the votes, or more than 5.1 million votes. González garnered 44%, or more than 4.4 million votes, he said.

Amoroso said the other 8 presidential candidates got a combined total of 4% or more than 462,000 votes.

He said those numbers were based on a review of 80% of the tally sheets. He did not show the sheets.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado said on Monday that González got more than 6.2 million votes and Maduro got more than 2.7 million votes.

Machado did not offer totals for the other eight candidates.

She said those numbers were based on a review of 73.2% of the tally sheets. She did not show any tally sheet but she directed voters to a website where they can use their ID number to look up an image of the sheet that corresponds to the machine where they voted.

The National Electoral Council does not have the obligation to post the tally sheets on its website — which has been down since Monday. But the opposition, electoral experts and some foreign governments disputing the official results are urging the sheets’ release.

On Monday, Machado announced the opposition had created a searchable website with images of every tally sheet that opposition poll representatives were able to obtain. Machado said the information was also being shared with the international community.

Voters line up outside a polling station that reads in Spanish "Vote" during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Electoral officials tally votes after polls closed for presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

An election officials tallies votes after polls closed for the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Alejandra Rivas votes during presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Voters line up outside a polling station during the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, left, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold up vote tally sheets during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, two days after the election. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez ride atop a truck during a protest against official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, July 30, 2024, two days after the vote. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez holds up vote tally sheets from the top of a truck during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, two days after the election. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, left, and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez hold up vote tally sheets from the top of a truck during a protest against the official presidential election results declaring President Nicolas Maduro the winner in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, two days after the election. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Electoral officials tally votes after polls closed for presidential elections in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday, July 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

President Donald Trump remained defiant Monday as global markets continued plunging after his tariff announcement last week.

Trump has insisted his tariffs are necessary to rebalance global trade and rebuild domestic manufacturing. He's singled out China as “the biggest abuser of them all” and criticized Beijing for increasing its own tariffs in retaliation.

Here's the latest:

The dispute over tariffs has caused some fracturing within Trump’s political coalition.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman said the president was “launching a global economic war against the whole world at once” and urged him to “call a time out.”

“We are heading for a self-induced, economic nuclear winter,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

Top White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told Fox News on Monday morning that Ackman should “ease off the rhetoric a little bit.”

Hassett said critics were exaggerating the impact of trade disputes and talk of an “economic nuclear winter” was “completely irresponsible rhetoric.”

The president showed no interest in changing course despite turmoil in global markets.

He said other countries had been “taking advantage of the Good OL’ USA” on international trade.

“Our past ‘leaders’ are to blame for allowing this, and so much else, to happen to our Country,” he wrote on Truth Social. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

Trump criticized China for increasing its own tariffs and “not acknowledging my warning for abusing countries not to retaliate.”

On a day when stock markets around the world dropped precipitously, Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl led a celebration of the president whose global tariffs sparked the sell-off.

With no mention of the Wall Street roller coaster and global economic uncertainty, Wahl declared his state GOP’s “Trump Victory Dinner” — and the broader national moment — a triumph. And for anyone who rejects Trump, his agenda and the “America First” army that backs it all, Wahl had an offer: “The Alabama Republican Party will buy them a plane ticket to any country in the world they want to go to.”

Wahl’s audience — an assembly of lobbyists and donors, state lawmakers, local party officials and grassroots activists — laughed, applauded and sometimes roared throughout last week’s gala in downtown Birmingham.

Yet beyond the cheerleading, there were signs of a more cautious optimism and some worried whispers over Trump’s sweeping tariffs, the particulars of his deportation policy and the aggressive slashing by his Department of Government Efficiency.

▶ Read more about Trump’s support in Alabama

This morning, at 11 a.m., World Series Champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, will visit the White House and meet the president. Later, at 1 p.m., Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the White House and meet with Trump. At 2 p.m., Netanyahu and Trump will participate in a Bilateral Meeting in the Oval Office. At 2:30 p.m., they will hold a joint news conference.

Trump said Sunday that he won’t back down on his sweeping tariffs on imports from most of the world unless countries even out their trade with the U.S.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he didn’t want global markets to fall, but also that he wasn’t concerned about the massive sell-off either, adding, “sometimes you have to take medicine to fix something.”

His comments came as global financial markets appeared on track to continue sharp declines once trading resumes Monday, and after Trump’s aides sought to soothe market concerns by saying more than 50 nations had reached out about launching negotiations to lift the tariffs.

The higher rates are set to be collected beginning Wednesday. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said unfair trade practices are not “the kind of thing you can negotiate away in days or weeks.” The United States, he said, must see “what the countries offer and whether it’s believable.”

▶ Read more about the global impact of Trump’s tariffs

Pedestrian are reflected on a brokerage house's window as an electronic board displays shares trading index, in Beijing, Monday, April 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Shipping containers are stored at Bensenville intermodal terminal in Franklin Park, Ill., Sunday, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

President Donald Trump arrives at the White House on Marine One, Sunday, April 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)