Opposition leader and presidential candidate face an investigation over their appeal to the army and the police ‘to take the side of the people’.

A criminal investigation has been launched in Venezuela against the opposition’s presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia and its leader Maria Corina Machado for announcing an election winner other than President Nicolas Maduro and allegedly instigating disobedience and insurrection.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab announced the probe on Monday after a written appeal the two opposition members sent hours earlier to the army and the police about Maduro and the demonstrators who have come out in force to defend their votes in the July 28 election.

Saab, in a written announcement posted on X, said the duo “falsely announced a winner of the presidential election other than the one proclaimed by the National Electoral Council, the only body qualified to do so” and they openly incited “police and military officials to disobey the laws”.

While under public pressure to release detailed, precinct-level records backing up its assertion that Maduro won, the National Electoral Council said on Monday it had presented all these records to the Supreme Court for certification, as requested by the president – but not publicly.

The opposition insists Gonzalez Urrutia was the rightful victor of last month’s election, which has plunged the oil-rich nation into a political crisis.

Multiple countries, including the United States and Argentina, have recognised Gonzalez Urrutia as the winner, while others, such as the European Union, have stopped short of doing so while calling for full publication of voting records.

The contested election caused protests last week that killed at least 11 civilians, according to rights groups.

“We appeal to the conscience of soldiers and police officers to take the side of the people and their own families,” the opposition said in a statement, in which they offered “guarantees to those who fulfill their constitutional duty” in a possible “new government”.

The statement, which Gonzalez Urrutia signed as “president-elect”, also urges the security forces to halt the “repression” of opposition protests.

The government has reported the deaths of two soldiers in the clashes.

The opposition statement said that top commanders were “aligned with Maduro and his vile interests, while you are represented by the people who went out to vote … whose will was expressed on July 28, and you know it”.

Call for dialogue

Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday called for dialogue between the Venezuelan government and opposition to resolve the election dispute.

“A commitment to peace is what leads us to call the parties to dialogue and to promote understanding between the government and the opposition,” Lula said during a state visit to Chile, where he met with President Gabriel Boric.

Lula, a Maduro ally engaged in a sensitive diplomatic balancing act, has urged his Venezuelan counterpart to publish voting records to resolve the dispute.