2013: The Supreme Court Confirmed Maduro’s Presidential Election

On April 14, 2013, the National Electoral Council (CNE) declared that Nicolas Maduro had been elected President of Venezuela defeating Henrique Capriles by 1.5% of the vote. Capriles asked the Supreme Court to annul the election result due to fraud and bias of the CNE.[1]

 Arguing that the voting was marred by “irregularities”, his lawyers said the goal was to force a new election.[2] Capriles had already stated that he didn’t expect a “fair” ruling from the Supreme Court, which he accused of being controlled by the government. The Capriles campaign said that they would go through all domestic institutions before taking their complaints before international institutions.[1] Capriles said he hoped that international pressure would impel a change in Venezuela. [2]

On August 7, Supreme Court Magistrate Gladys Gutierrez announced that the Court had reached a unanimous decision and rejected Capriles’ appeal citing a failure to provide “sufficient proof.” [3] Gutierrez said that although the plaintiffs had argued that there were “many” cases of irregularities during the voting of April 14 such as “delays in the voting process and alleged irregularities in some polling stations”, the Court found that the opposition lacked proof that any such irregularities affected the outcome of the election.[3]

The Court stated that the failure of the opposition to present any admissible evidence of electoral fraud is “proof that the April 14 results were completely legitimate.” [3] The New York Times wrote that Capriles’ “accusations seemed to rest on suspicions of widespread irregularities in the voting rather than clear proof of fraud.” [4]

The Court also dismissed calls from Capriles to require Maduro to publicly present his birth certificate.[3] Capriles had questioned Maduro’s nationality, arguing that he may have been born in Columbia. Both Maduro and Columbian authorities rejected the suggestion.




1.     Venezuelanalysis, Capriles Formally Contests Elections Before Venezuela’s Supreme Court, May 3, 2013.

2.     New York Times, Venezuela: Legal Challenge to Vote, May 2, 2013.

3.     Venezuelanalysis, Venezuela’s Supreme Court Rules Capriles’ Appeal Against 14 April Electoral Results “Inadmissible,” August 9, 2013.

4.     New York Times, Venezuelan Court Rejects Challenge to Presidential Election Results, August 7, 2013

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