Macedonian authorities are reviewing information from the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office regarding a suspected hacker attack that allegedly occurred from North Macedonia after the election night.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek Saab claimed that the publication of the election results was delayed due to a hacker attack on Venezuela’s electoral system originating from North Macedonia.
He said that the cyberattack on the country’s automated voting system managed to slow down the vote-counting process after the election process had ended. However, Saab did not provide further details or evidence on how it was confirmed that the attack came from North Macedonia.
North Macedonia’s Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski told Radio Free Europe that “we are dealing with a socialist regime, which has published information without supporting evidence for many years and has blamed countries that have no responsibility in such cases”.
He expressed hope that the Venezuelan government will have proper evidence.
This is not the first time North Macedonia has made international headlines regarding elections in another country.
Eight years ago, North Macedonia gained worldwide and local media attention due to Veles, which was accused of creating fake news during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
Veles— with just over 45,000 residents— became famous before the American elections when global media discovered that more than 100 political websites were created in the city, spreading fake news and favouring Donald Trump’s policies.
Meanwhile, the presidential election in Venezuela took place between Nicolás Maduro, who has been in power for 11 years, and opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia.
Both candidates publicly declared victory in the tense elections over the weekend, which were followed by violent protests and arrests.
While doubts about the official result were expressed by the United States and several Latin American countries, Maduro received congratulations from China, Russia, and Cuba, among others.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was one of the leaders congratulating Nicolás Maduro on Tuesday for his contested victory in the Venezuelan presidential elections.
In a statement, Vučić said that “the times we live in are difficult” and thanked Maduro for not recognising Kosovo.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on July 29 that the United States is “seriously concerned that the announced election results do not reflect the will or votes of the Venezuelan people”.
Blinken called on election authorities to publish detailed election results.
EU foreign policy representative Josep Borrell stated that it is important to “ensure full transparency in the electoral process, including a detailed count of votes and access to voting data at polling centres”.
