In the standard narrative on election fraud, whether it actually occurs or is falsely alleged, the opposition party claims that the governing party is using its control of state institutions to hold on to power. In response, the party in power, whether it is engaging in electoral fraud or fairly winning elections and trying to defend its own legitimacy, will stress the fairness of the process and the independence of the electoral institutions.
For instance, this was the narrative in Venezuela’s presidential election in 2024, when Nicolas Maduro manipulated the entire process and ultimately announced false results to hold on to power, despite the opposition collecting enough automated voting receipts to prove that their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, had won at least 67 percent of the ballots cast.
That epitomized how election fraud “normally” works, in both theory and practice. However, a different narrative around election fraud has emerged in recent years that flips the old one on its head. Whereas traditionally it was the party out of power that cried fraud, now it is the party in power that is using claims of fraud to undermine trust in electoral institutions and preemptively delegitimize the process.