(Bloomberg) -- Nicolas Maduro pledged to meet international demands to release full voting records from Venezuela’s election during a meeting with a top adviser to Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, according to a Brazilian government official familiar with the matter.
Maduro met Celso Amorim, Lula’s chief foreign affairs adviser, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Monday, amid mounting pressure from Brazil, Colombia and other nations to publicly verify the results of a Sunday election in which he was declared the winner and the opposition claimed fraud.
Maduro told Amorim that the government will present the electoral data, including the ballot records for each voting precinct that Brazil has demanded, in the next few days, according to the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal matters. The Venezuelan leader said the release has been delayed due to an attack on the country’s electricity grid, according to the official. Maduro also argued that he is the target of a coup attempt.
The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the sitdown with Maduro, Amorim met with opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, who asked him to insist on the release of the ballot records, according to the Brazilian official. Opposition leaders announced Monday that they have tabulations showing Gonzalez won the vote.
Lula is set to talk to President Joe Biden on Tuesday about the latest developments in Venezuela. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the US has “serious concerns” about the election and called for the release of a detailed tabulation of votes.
Lula, a longtime ally of Venezuela’s socialist governments, is upset with the situation in Caracas and believes Maduro has systematically failed to deliver on promises for transparency in the electoral process, two Brazilian officials said Monday.
Tensions between the two nations have been escalating since ahead of the vote, with Brazil’s electoral court deciding not to send observers after Maduro criticized the country’s voting system. Lula has not publicly commented on the election result, but last week said that Maduro needed to learn how to lose and that Venezuela’s future depended on an election the international community deemed legitimate.
While Brazil has yet to officially recognize the results, Lula’s leftist Workers’ Party praised the election as “peaceful” and “democratic” in a Monday statement that acknowledged Maduro’s victory.
--With assistance from Fabiola Zerpa.
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