Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela, but the opposition is preparing to challenge the results. Elvis Amoroso, president of the National Electoral Council (CNE), announced that Maduro secured a third six-year term with 51.2 percent of the votes, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had led in polling, received 44.2 percent. The electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro’s loyalists, did not immediately release the vote totals from the 30,000 polling stations across the country. Opposition representatives reported earlier that the figures collected from polling stations by campaign representatives indicated that Gonzalez surpassed Maduro.
Following the announcement of the election results, Maduro stated that his re-election was a triumph for peace and stability, reiterating his campaign claims that the electoral system was transparent. Maduro, 61, came to power for the first time in 2013 after the death of his mentor, socialist leader Hugo Chávez, who died from cancer. He has faced accusations of imprisoning critics and harassing the opposition, and has been unable to address a long-standing economic crisis that has driven over seven million of Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate.
The opposition movement has pledged to resolve the economic crisis, and exit polls suggested they had a strong chance of defeating Maduro. Gonzalez replaced popular opposition leader MarÃa Corina Machado on the ballot after officials loyal to Maduro excluded her from the race. Machado, who had campaigned on behalf of Gonzalez, urged voters to remain “vigilant” at polling stations during the “decisive hours” of the count, amid widespread fears of fraud. “We want the whole world to know that we won in all sectors and all states of the country. We know what happened today. We ensured that all information was collected and reported. This shows the results. It is indisputable,” Machado said at a rally.
Gonzalez, who also opposes the official results, told his supporters in Caracas that the government violated “all rules and norms… to such an extent that we were denied the opportunity to see most ballots.” “Our struggle continues, and we will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected,” Gonzalez added, emphasizing that he would not encourage his supporters to take to the streets or engage in violent actions.
Analysts and leaders across the Americas have also expressed skepticism regarding the election results. Phil Gunson, senior analyst for Venezuela at the International Crisis Group, stated that the numbers announced by the government-controlled electoral authority did not align with the votes cast. “The result that the opposition claims is correct closely matches what polls have shown in recent months,” Gunson said.
Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves and Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez-Olaechea have dismissed the official election results as fraudulent, with Lima recalling its ambassador to Caracas due to the “violation of the people’s will.” Chilean President Gabriel Boric termed the results “hard to believe,” while Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou stated that “the count was clearly flawed.”
However, Maduro found support from allies in Bolivia, Honduras, and Cuba. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel stated that Maduro had clearly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition. Sunday’s election was the result of an agreement between the government and the opposition from last year, which led to a temporary easing of sanctions imposed after Maduro’s controversial re-election in 2018.
But sanctions were reinstated after Maduro failed to comply with the agreed-upon conditions. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is currently visiting Japan, stated that Washington wished for the votes to be counted “fairly and transparently” and expressed concern over the announcement of Maduro’s victory. “We have serious concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will or votes of the Venezuelan people,” said Blinken.