Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election on July 28, but his opponents are disputing the results, setting up a potential showdown for the future of the country.
The National Electoral Council announced just after midnight that Maduro secured
51% of the vote, defeating the main opposition candidate, Edmundo
González, who received 44%. However, the council, which is controlled by Maduro’s
allies, did not immediately release the detailed tallies from each of the
30,000 polling stations, making it difficult for the opposition to
challenge the results. They claimed to have data from only 30% of the ballot
boxes.
Foreign leaders are withholding recognition of the results until the official
tallies are released. Chilean President Gabriel Boric said, “The
Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to
believe. We won’t recognize any result that is not verifiable.” U.S.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also expressed serious concerns, stating
that the announced results do not seem to reflect the will of the Venezuelan
people.
The delay in announcing the results, which came six
hours after polls were supposed to close, suggests internal debate
within the government about how to handle the situation, especially after
the opposition claimed early in the evening that they were leading.
When Maduro finally appeared to celebrate, he accused unnamed foreign enemies of
trying to hack the voting system, although he did not provide evidence for this
claim. He promised "justice" for those who attempt to incite
violence in Venezuela.
Opposition representatives said their data from polling
stations showed González winning by a large margin. The head of the
electoral council has said the official voting records will be released soon.
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