Far from an expert here, but imo you only need to look at the media coverage itself to at least see that the idea of a huge popular upswell is bunk. I've been scouring the reportage for a long shot of these protests, and nothing. How about the opposition figures in front of a crowd? Again, nothing. It's always a handful of goons in a conference room. Meanwhile, Maduro still demonstrably has a huge social base, going by the attendance at rallies, official support from social orgs etc.

There have almost certainly been irregularities dgmw, but, as has been mentioned elsewhere in this thread, the election was hopelessly compromised from the get go. It's just not possible to have 'free and fair' elections under circumstances such as this.

With regard to other forms of suppression e.g. Machado's disqualification, well... I mean she's openly calling for foreign intervention, is collaborating with hostile state actors, and she's a fucking nazi.

If liberal democracy worked as advertised, the opposition would have conceded to a new political consensus by now, and perhaps even be back in power. They could just say, "ok, the nationalized oil stays. Now, why not let us manage it instead?" But they have not ceded an inch on privatisations, and they won't either. Liberal democracy demands that the complete dismantling of the meagre gains of chavismo be on the table at every election.