President Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela's presidential election, according to partial results published by the National Electoral Council (CNE).
President Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela's presidential election, according to partial results published by the National Electoral Council (CNE). The announcement, made by CNE head Elvis Amoroso, a close ally of Maduro, revealed that with 80% of votes counted, Maduro had secured 51.2% of the vote, compared to 44.2% for his main rival, Edmundo Gonzalez.
BREAKING: This is the moment the National Electoral Council of Venezuela announced socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro as the winner of tonight's historic election FRAUD
Nicolás Maduro🔴51.20% with 5,150,960 votes
Edmundo González🔵44.2% with 4,445,978 votes
- According to their… pic.twitter.com/ZLfoJXowws
The opposition, which had united behind Gonzalez in a bid to unseat Maduro after 11 years in power, has alleged widespread fraud in the vote count and vowed to challenge the result. Thousands of opposition witnesses were deployed to polling stations across the country to conduct their own vote count. However, a spokeswoman for the Gonzalez-led coalition reported that many witnesses were "forced to leave" numerous polling stations.
Despite opinion polls showing Gonzalez with a significant lead over Maduro, the opposition's fears of electoral fraud were heightened by President Maduro's remarks that he would win "by hook or by crook."
These concerns were amplified by reports that opposition witnesses were denied access to monitor the count of paper receipts, which are generated by the electronic voting machines and meant to be cross-checked against the digital results.
The opposition's strategy to ensure transparency involved verifying the paper tallies at each polling station, but they were reportedly granted access to fewer than a third of these receipts. The opposition had hoped that a massive turnout by their supporters would make it difficult for the government to manipulate the election results.
Under the leadership of Maduro and his predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez, the socialist PSUV party has maintained control over the executive, legislative, and much of the judiciary. The last presidential election in 2018 was widely condemned as neither free nor fair, and similar concerns loomed over the current election.
Earlier, Venezuela's Foreign Minister, Yvan Gil, condemned what he describes as foreign interference in the country’s electoral process. In a statement posted on social media platform X, Gil asserted that the right to self-determination and the sovereignty of Venezuela are under threat from a coalition of foreign governments and powers.
“This group is a version of the infamous, defunct and defeated Lima group,” Gil said, referencing a collective of Latin American countries including Ecuador, Guatemala, and Panama. He accused the same international actors who recognized Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s acting president in 2019 of attempting to impose another figurehead in 2024.
Maduro's victory, if upheld, extends the PSUV's 25-year hold on power in Venezuela. The opposition's challenge to the results sets the stage for a potentially prolonged and contentious post-election period.