By: Staff Writer
December 5, 2023
Venezuelans this past Sunday voted overwhelmingly to reclaim the disputed Essequibo region with some 10.5m people coming out to support the Nicolas Maduro regime’s efforts to turn the region into a Venezuelan state.
It remains unclear how Maduro will enforce the results of the vote. But Guyana considers the referendum a step toward annexation, and the vote has its residents on edge.
The National Electoral Council claimed to have counted more than 10.5m votes even though few voters could be seen at polling sites throughout the voting period for the five-question referendum. The council, however, did not explain whether the number of votes was equivalent to each voter or if it was the sum of each individual answer.
Critics of the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, say he called the non-binding referendum to whip up nationalist fervour and distract from calls for free and fair elections to be held.
President Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, had urged people to turn out en masse and vote “five times ‘yes'” to the five questions his government had posed on the status of Essequibo.
In the referendum, the Venezuelan government asked voters to back its stance on the dispute.
The most controversial question was the fifth, which asked Venezuelans if they agreed with “the creation of the Guyana Esequiba state” and its “incorporation into the map of Venezuelan territory”.
Electoral officials said 95.9% of voters cast a “yes” vote to that question.
Guyana has denounced the proposal as an attempt at annexation and President Dr Irfaan Ali has accused his Venezuelan counterpart of fomenting conflict by calling for the referendum.
Dr Ali, President of Guyana, told the BBC news that: “Our first response has been to respect international law, one that respects the dignity of people and one that leads to the continuation of peace in this region. That is why we went to the ICJ (International Court of Justice) for provisional measures in relation to this referendum.”
Dr Ali also said that the move to consult the ICJ was not to stop the referdum from happening, but to have additional measures put in place to have Venezuela clarify what it meant by the annexation of the Essequibo and make it a state within Venezuela.
The ICJ released a statement two days prior Sunday’s referendum to “refrain from taking any action which would modify that situation that currently prevails.”
President Maduro has yet to clarify how Venezuela plans to annex Guyana, but it is certain that the world’s top court has made a decision on what should be respected.