Henrique Capriles Radonski, the opposition candidate in the April 14 Venezuelan presidential election, submitted papers to the Supreme Court challenging the results of the extremely close election May 2. 

Nicolas Maduro, Hugo Chavez’s hand-picked successor, is currently acting as president after winning the election with a margin of less than 2 percent of the vote.

Radonski is challenging the results of the election saying the whole process was marred by irregularities and hopes to force another election. Currently the election commission is in the process of auditing 46 percent of the vote.

The weeks after the April election have been scarred with violence erupting not only in the streets, but also in the National Assembly.  On the night of April 30 the parliament broke into a brawl with lawmakers kicking and punching each other.

The catalyst for the brawl was the revealing of a banner by opposition lawmakers denouncing a measure that stripped them of their legislative powers until they recognized Marduro as the legitimate president.

“They can beat us, jail us, kill us, but we will not sell out our principles,” said Julio Borges, an opposition legislator, in an interview with a local television station. “These blows give us more strength.”

The violence in the parliament is a shadow of the violence that erupted out of an opposition to protests that left seven dead and 61 wounded. Maduro has blamed the violence on the United States. Maduro accused the U.S. embassy for leading and financing the unrest.

“Let me state clearly, violence has no place in a representative democratic system and it’s particularly inappropriate within the National Assembly,” said Patrick Ventrell, the acting deputy spokesperson for the U.S. Department of State in a press conference Wednesday.

Three days after the election, Secretary of State John Kerry joined Radonski in demanding a recount of the vote. 

“There are 7 million people who voted a different way, who still have concerns, who want them resolved, and the opposition is continuing to work through that,” said Ventrell. “We continue to support the need for looking at all the irregularities, for looking at a full recount. And so that’s what we continue to support.”

While the State Department continues to encourage a full recount, bilateral relations with the government of Venezuela being led by Maduro have not been stopped.

“In terms of the day-to-day bilateral relationship, yes, we do continue to have our Embassy there and have quote/unquote a ‘bilateral relationship.’ But this isn’t about recognition,” said Ventrell. “It’s the Venezuelan people who have to decide about the legitimacy of their leaders.”

Radonski and other opposition leaders continue to not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president.