Caracas, July 30: Nicolás Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election by the government-controlled electoral authority, a result that has been immediately challenged by opposition leaders and several international governments.
After a six-hour delay in releasing the results of Sunday’s poll, which prompted widespread international concern, Venezuela’s electoral council announced that Maduro had secured 51.21% of the votes compared with 44.2% for his rival, former diplomat Edmundo González Urrutia. With approximately 80% of votes counted, the council reported that Maduro had received more than 5 million votes while González garnered 4.4 million.
Independent observers described the election as the most arbitrary in recent years, even by the standards of an authoritarian regime that began under Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez. Critics blame Maduro for steering Venezuela into a deep economic and social crisis, as well as for creating an increasingly repressive state where political opponents are often jailed and tortured.
González’s campaign had sparked rare optimism among millions of disillusioned citizens after a decade during which the economy of the country with the world’s largest oil reserves contracted by 80%, and nearly 8 million people — almost a third of Venezuela’s population — fled abroad.
Maduro dedicated his victory to Chávez, proclaiming, “Long live Chávez. Chávez is alive!” Addressing his supporters in the capital, Caracas, the 61-year-old leader declared, “I am Nicolás Maduro Moros – the re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela … and I will defend our democracy, our law, and our people.”
The opposition swiftly disputed the results. “The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González stated in his initial remarks. Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who had supported González’s campaign after being banned from running, rejected the result, claiming that the opposition had won in every state. “We won and everybody knows it,” Machado asserted. “We haven’t just defeated them politically and morally, today we defeated them with votes,” she said, insisting that González should be considered the president-elect.
Edison Research, which conducts high-profile election polling in the US and other countries, released an exit poll showing that González had won 65% of the vote, compared to Maduro’s 31%. “The official results are silly,” said Edison’s executive vice-president, Rob Farbman, affirming that the organization stood by its survey results. Local polling firm Meganalisis also predicted a 65% vote for González and just under 14% for Maduro.
While Maduro’s regional allies celebrated the result, the US and other nations expressed serious concerns. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated, “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.” He called for a fair and transparent counting of all votes and urged the electoral authorities to share detailed vote tabulations with the opposition and independent observers without delay.
Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares emphasized the need for transparency, stating, “We want total transparency and that’s why we’re asking for the results to be published, polling station by polling station.” Chile’s President Gabriel Boric also voiced skepticism, tweeting, “Maduro’s regime must understand that the results it has published are hard to believe … Chile will not recognize any result that is not verifiable.” Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa called for the Organization of American States to discuss the situation in Venezuela, accusing Maduro of trying to cling to power and “snatching away the hope of millions of Venezuelans.”
The opposition’s unification around González, a 74-year-old former ambassador, was seen as a last-ditch effort to lead Venezuela out of one of the worst economic collapses in modern history. Despite the controversy surrounding the election results, opposition supporters remained hopeful for change.
“I voted for Edmundo González because I believe he is the only hope of change that we have here,” said Anabella Donzella, a 23-year-old economics student, as she cast her vote in Caracas.
Maduro, who was elected after Chávez’s death in 2013 and re-elected in a disputed 2018 election, appeared confident as he visited Chávez’s tomb to lay a wreath before dawn on Sunday. “This is our battle of Carabobo and we are heading straight for victory,” he declared, dedicating his campaign to Chávez.
As the international community watches closely, the future of Venezuela remains uncertain, with calls for transparency and fairness echoing across the globe.