> On the other hand, the goal is to get away with fraud, not to convince an international community who will likely look for any confirmation of their suspicion.

Despite my joke in a sibling comment, this is key. When you're a politician everything is power relations. Sometimes it's necessary to show that you have the power to semi-obviously rig an election. Your bargaining position is different if it requires military force to remove you vs just an unhappy electorate. You can achieve different things.