Former Colombian president claims Maduro is negotiating election do over in Venezuela to avoid facing fraud allegations

As international pressure continues to mount against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro amid a lack of transparency regarding the election results, former Colombian president Iván Duque has taken to X to denounce an alleged plan being prepared by the government to divert from fraud allegations: call for new elections in December.

According to Duque, there is "dangerous information going around" that Venezuela's Supreme Court is studying the possibility of annulling the July 28 elections using Nicolas Maduro's "cyber attack" claim as a smoke curtain. Duque did not elaborate on where he received said information from.

He did however go into a lengthy analysis of the theory, explaining why it's a possible way out for Maduro amid the current climate.

Duque starts off by explaining that the plan would involve the Venezuelan Supreme Court (TSJ for its initials in Spanish) claiming they consulted cybersecurity firms, which confirmed the cyberattack and significant data corruption. Duque then argues that "getting a forensic cybersecurity technical report from a specialized company will not be difficult" since "there is no shortage of money, and money buys almost everything."

Duque then claims that Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, which are currently spearheading negotiations with the government to find a way out of the crisis, would call for new elections under this hypothetical scenario, which would then trigger the following series of events from the authorities:

1. The electoral council would be called upon to rescind Maduro's proclamation.
2. New presidential elections would be scheduled for December 2024.
3. The government would be called upon to ensure the opposition has the conditions and guarantees for their campaign.
4. The government would immediately release individuals detained during protests.

Duque believes that such a plan is a front that would only set the stage for another fraud in December, listing several ways in which the scenario works in its favor. First off, the Supreme Court would be seen as "a good cop", even though its credibility as an impartial judge has been called into question. Secondly, the strategy would freeze current protests in the country, remove fraud bias, appease the international community and allow the regime to regroup.

Duque concludes his post by saying that the election's results must be defended and Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia's victory recognized:

"This plan should be avoided. Edmundo González is the president elected by the people, as demonstrated by 82% of the minutes published by the brave electoral witnesses of the democratic resistance. This result shows an overwhelming victory. The verdict of the people must be respected. No more traps of the dictatorship! Free Venezuela!"