The Venezuelan attorney general, a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro, has announced he is investigating opposition leaders María Corina Machado and Edmundo González for alleged "incitement to insurrection."
The opposition leaders had earlier called on the security forces to "side with the people" and ignore any orders to repress anti-government protests.
Tension has been running high since the electoral authority, which is closely aligned with the government, declared Mr. Maduro the winner without making detailed voting tallies public.
The opposition has uploaded copies of the voting tallies as evidence that it was Mr. González and not President Maduro who won the election.
On Sunday, the Washington Post said it had reviewed more than 23,000 of the tally sheets collected by the opposition —which amounts to 80 percent of voting machines across Venezuela.
The Post concluded that Mr. González had "likely received more than twice as many votes as President Nicolás Maduro.".
On August 5, the opposition published a statement on X stating that Mr. González had won 67 percent of the vote compared to Mr. Maduro's 30 percent.
It is at odds with the result announced by the government-dominated CNE, which declared Mr. Maduro the winner with 52 percent of the vote against 43 percent for Mr. González.
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