President Nicolas Maduro gestures to supporters during a speech from a balcony in the presidential palace in defense of his re-election, in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 30, 2024. Photo: VCG

The unrest in Venezuela has not abated as supporters for incumbent President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado took to streets after dispute over election result continued, as supporters of Maduro crowded some of main avenues of capital Caracas on Saturday.

Chinese observers expressed concern over an escalation of the situation in the streets under the interference of the US and some other Western countries, for which Venezuelans would have to pay the price. 

Venezuela's electoral authority on July 29 announced Maduro was the winner in the election with a 5 percentage points lead ahead of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez. Meanwhile the opposition claimed that its own detailed tally shows Gonzalez likely received 67 percent of the votes, earning more than double Maduro's support, the Guardian reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken congratulated Gonzalez "for receiving the most votes" when he spoke with him and opposition leader Machado in a phone call on Friday, according to the Guardian. 

Pan Deng, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Region Law Center of China University of Political Science and Law, was invited to observe the election as an international observer.

Pan told the Global Times that he is concerned that even if the election authority later releases the detailed vote tally, the US will not stop hyping the issue to create more troubles. The US does not care about election process or the vote tally, but seeks to deny the legitimacy of the Maduro administration and his United Socialist Party, and choose a candidate that is satisfactory to the US to replace Maduro, the expert said. 

The US is certainly attempting to pursue a political ecology that suits its own interests, so it will seek to support the moderate right wing, pro-market forces and pro-American forces throughout the region, analysts said.

They added that the US is also very likely to continue to increase its support for the opposition, whether it is financial support, public opinion support and personnel training, all kinds of means of color revolution shall be used.