<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;" align="center">Venezuela&rsquo;s President Nicolas Maduro is being accused of fraud after the socialist party surprisingly won 17 out of the 23 state governorships in the country&rsquo;s regional election this Sunday.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The opposition leaders believe that Maduro intervened and are demanding a complete audit. Polls prior to the election predicted that the opposition would win by a landslide.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;A survey before Sunday&#8217;s vote had given the opposition 44.7 percent of voter intentions, compared to 21.1 percent for the government &mdash; close to Maduro&#8217;s own approval rating of 23 percent,&rdquo; writes <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NBC News.</em> &ldquo;The opposition&#8217;s five victories included the restive Andean states of Merida and Tachira, as well as the oil-producing region of Zulia.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The five wins by the opposition was still an increase from the 2012 regional elections, but it was much less than the 18-19 seats that were expected.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Campaign Director of the Democratic Unity Roundtable coalition Gerardo Blyd doubts Sunday&rsquo;s results and said that &#8220;neither Venezuelans nor the world will swallow this fiction.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Venezuelans have made it clear that they are unhappy with Maduro&rsquo;s leadership. The living conditions in Venezuela have gradually become more disastrous. Inflation is out of control, grocery stores are empty, and businesses and factories have had to close down.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The dire state of the country has forced thousands to seek refuge in Colombia.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;Widespread dissatisfaction with President Nicolá;s Maduro&rsquo;s ruling party was plain to see. ;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-protests-supreme-court.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">V</span></a><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/world/americas/venezuela-maduro-protests-supreme-court.html"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">iolent ;</span></a>demonstrations ;had taken over the streets for months, while many thousands of Venezuelans had fled the country to escape ;scarcities of food ;and medicine, rampant violence and a triple-digit inflation,&rdquo; writes the <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">New York Times. </em> ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The results of the election were alarming and even foreign analysts believe that Venezuela&rsquo;s electoral system was rigged.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;The result is another sham,&rdquo; said Nicholas Watson, senior vice president of Teneo Intelligence, a business consultancy. ;He pointed out it was &ldquo;simply implausible&rdquo; that the opposition would lose in stronghold states like Miranda and Barinas.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">José; Ignacio Herná;ndez, a law professor at Central University of Venezuela, expressed similar sentiments and said that Sunday&rsquo;s results were &ldquo;statistically unlikely.&rdquo; But he also said it won&rsquo;t be easy to prove that the results were compromised. ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;The problem is proving it,&rdquo; said Ignacio Herná;ndez. &ldquo;The declared results are not rational. Among other factors, I think there was manipulation.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">61 percent of voters participated in Sunday&rsquo;s election, which was a massive turnout.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before the pro-government election board announced the results, the opposition expressed doubts in the system.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&#8220;We have serious suspicions and doubts,&#8221; ;said Blyde.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Occurrences of fraud seem to be common in Venezuela&rsquo;s elections.  ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&ldquo;The election board used a different company for Sunday&#8217;s vote machines after its former partner, London-based Smartmatic, accused it of manipulating a July election for a new legislative superbody by at least 1 million votes,&rdquo; writes <em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">NBC News.</em></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">While what seems to be the majority of the country was outraged by the results, Maduro was quick to celebrate that the Socialist Party is alive and well. ;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">&#8220;&#8216;Chavismo&#8217; is alive, in the street and triumphant,&#8221; said Maduro.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> ;<strong>Author&rsquo;s note:</strong> This was obviously the result of fraud. Will this be the last straw for Venezuelans?</p>
<p> ;</p>