How Maduro Stole Venezuela's Vote
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6288522 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Javier Corrales (0000-0001-7180-2826), Dorothy Kronick (0000-0001-9647-9842) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 36-49 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of democracy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1045-5736 • E-ISSN: 1086-3214 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/jod.2025.a947882 |
| OpenAlex | W4405585312 |
| Language | DE |
| Citations received | 4 |
On July 28 of last year, an opposition candidate defeated Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro at the polls—and then used the government's own voting technology to prove it. Yet Maduro remains in power. We explain why an elected autocrat would choose transparent, auditable vote-counting technology. Hugo Chávez, Maduro's predecessor, installed this technology when he was popular and needed to defend real electoral returns against false accusations of fraud. Maduro maintained the technology even as he lost popular support, because military loyalty provided insurance: When he actually won an election, transparent vote-counting rendered his victory maximally legitimizing; when he lost, he stayed in office anyway. We argue that Venezuela's vote-counting technology nonetheless holds promise for prodemocracy forces across the globe
Political science · Cultural and political discourse analysis · International Relations in Latin America · Politics and Society in Latin America
| Citations per year | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |