Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) — stacked to the brim with judges loyal to the regime of socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro — ruled on Thursday to uphold the dictator’s highly fraudulent “victory” in the July 28 sham presidential election.

TSJ president Caryslia Rodríguez read the top court ruling that certifies “in an unobjectionable manner” Maduro’s victory. The ruling is the conclusion of a “review” of the sham election that the TSJ carried out at the request of Maduro, whose ongoing efforts to cling to power for an additional six-year term have been the subject of growing international condemnation.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Center (CNE) — another entity fully loyal to the socialist dictator — proclaimed Maduro the “winner” of the July 28 sham election, granting the dictator his third fraudulently obtained presidential term in a row.

While the top electoral authority claimed Maduro “obtained” 51.9 percent of the votes in the sham election, it refused to act in accordance with Venezuela’s own electoral laws and has not published voter data and documentation at press time that can corroborate the results. According to state-owned media, CNE has not published the data because it was the victim of a “cybernetic attack.”

The Venezuelan opposition denounced Maduro’s claimed victory as fraudulent, contesting the claimed results by publishing voter tallies allegedly obtained from local polling stations on the day of the election that indicate its candidate, Edmundo González, defeated Maduro in a landslide.

The TSJ, following dictator Maduro’s request, “reviewed” alleged materials from the election with “the highest technical and legal standards.” The socialist-controlled top court claimed that it reviewed the CNE’s vote records, which “fully coincide” with the information from the voting machines used in the election. It is not clear which records it reviewed, as the CNE did not publish any.

“The expert opinion is un-objectionably certified and the results of July 28 issued by CNE, where Nicolás Maduro was elected as president of the Republic for the period 2025-2031, are validated, it is so decided,” Rodríguez, reading the ruling, said. “The CNE is urged to publish the results of the elections in the Electoral Gazette.”

The ruling ordered the CNE to “safeguard” the voter data allegedly used in the ruling. Additionally, the TSJ ordered that the Attorney General’s Office — also openly loyal to Maduro — receive a copy of the ruling so that it can move forward with a criminal investigation against Venezuelan opposition leaders involved in the online publication of the voter tallies for the alleged commission of crimes of “usurpation of functions, forgery of public documents, instigation to disobey the law, computer crimes, association to commit crimes, and conspiracy.”

TSJ justified its actions in the ruling by claiming that it examined past electoral controversies in other countries that resulted in the involvement of their respective nations’ courts — specifically mentioning Brazil’s 2022 presidential election and the United States’ 2000 presidential election between former President George W. Bush and Al Gore.

“These precedents make it clear that in the event of controversies arising in presidential elections, the courts of justice with jurisdiction in electoral matters constitute the last instance for their resolution as guarantors of the rule of law and constitutional democracy,” the ruling read.

Shortly before the TSJ issued the ruling, the United Nations Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela (FFMV) warned of the court’s “lack of independence and impartiality,” stressing that both the TSJ and the CNE have played a role in the Maduro regime’s repressive machinery.

The head of the fact-finding mission, Marta Valiñas, pointed out that TSJ president Caryslia Rodríguez and CNE’s head Elvis Amoroso are members of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Valiñas stressed that Amoroso, who previously served as comptroller general, was responsible for the ban on opposition leader María Corina Machado — who, despite being the opposition’s frontrunner candidate, was not allowed to be on the sham election’s ballot.

Nicolás Maduro celebrated the court’s ruling that “certifies” him as the winner in a PSUV event, describing the ruling as a “historic and conclusive sentence.” Maduro praised the courts — which he controls — for having demonstrated a “technical, scientific, professional, and legal work based on the laws” during the review of the sham election that he himself requested.

“When there is an electoral dispute, there is only one instance designated to resolve it, and that instance is the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice,” Maduro said.

The socialist dictator also expressed his support for an electoral reform bill that the socialist-controlled National Assembly is preparing to ban anyone who does not accept the TSJ’s ruling from participating in any elections.

“I agree with the proposal that has emerged in the National Assembly today, and I say so. Enough with facism, enough with the extreme right,” Maduro said. “In Venezuela, facism will not pass, neither by force nor by any other means.”

“I agree with the proposal that has arisen in the National Assembly to make a reform of all the electoral laws and that those who ignore the laws, the public powers, the constitution, and pretend to impose a fascist regime cannot participate in electoral processes,” he reiterated.

The United States – together with Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic, and Uruguay – released a joint statement on Friday morning rejecting the TSJ’s ruling and denouncing its intention to validate the “unsubstantiated results” issued by the Venezuelan electoral authorities.

“Our countries had already expressed their disavowal of the validity of the CNE’s declaration, after opposition representatives were denied access to the official count, the non-publication of the tally sheets and the subsequent refusal to carry out an impartial and independent audit of all of them,” the statement read.

Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.