Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro announced that he has decided to postpone Christmas. – It's September and we can already feel that Christmas is approaching. Therefore, this year, in tribute to the brave people and to thank you, I will decree that Christmas be postponed to October 1 – he said, quoted by “The Guardian” Nicolas Maduro during a television speech. The country's leader promised Venezuelans a Christmas marked by “peace, happiness and security.”
Venezuela. Why is Nicolas Maduro postponing Christmas?
Such a decision may be a way to divert public attention from the controversial results of the presidential elections. How I'm writing portal euronews.comthe declaration of postponing Christmas came a few days after an arrest warrant was issued on July 28 for Edmundo González Urrutia, Maudro's rival in the presidential election. What's more, the government has still not released the voting records to confirm the alleged victory. According to opposition and published minutes of the electoral commissions, González won the election by a large margin. This is not the first such move by the Venezuelan leader. In 2020, Maduro moved the holiday to October 15 to distract from the problems related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
What do the polls say? It's clear who Venezuelans wanted to elect
MarÃa Corina Machado, who is the leader of the opposition in Venezuela, informed that according to their data, Edmundo González Urritia won presidential elections with 70 percent of the votes. Nicolas Maduro was supposed to get only 30 percent of the support. – We won and everyone knows it – said the politician, who was quoted Reuters Agency. According to Reuters, a similar result was also predicted polls. The Edison Research survey predicted that González would receive 65 percent of the vote, and Nicolas Maduro 31 percent. Meganalisis, in turn, estimated that 65 percent of citizens would vote for González, and less than 14 percent for Maduro.
The United States also speaks of doubts about the results of the presidential elections in Venezuela. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the United States has “grave concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will and vote of the Venezuelan people.”