Nicolás Maduro has been declared the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election by the government-controlled electoral authority in a result that appeared to dash opposition hopes of ending 25 years of socialist rule and looked certain to be bitterly contested.
The result announcement came even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results.
After a six-hour delay in releasing the results of Sunday’s election sparked an outpouring of concern from South American governments, the national electoral council claimed Mr Maduro had won with 51.21 per cent of votes compared with 44.2 per cent for his rival, Edmundo González Urrutia.
The council said that with about 80 per cent of votes counted, Mr Maduro had secured more than five million compared with Mr González’s 4.4 million.
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However, opposition leaders had been celebrating, online and outside a few voting centres, what they saw as a landslide victory for Mr Gonzalez. Their hope was boosted by exit polls – which are not allowed under Venezuelan law – showing a healthy margin of victory for Mr Gonzalez.
Opposition representatives said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at 30 per cent of voting centres showed Mr Gonzalez trouncing the president.
The EU has called for transparency in the vote. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, stressed “the people of Venezuela voted on the future of their country peacefully” and “their will must be respected”.
“Ensuring full transparency in the electoral process, including detailed counting of votes and access to voting records at polling stations, is vital,” he added.
As polls closed on Sunday evening Jorge Rodríguez, a top Chavista politician, told reporters in the capital Caracas that he was confident Mr Maduro would be returned to power for his third six-year term. “The voice of the people has spoken,” Rodríguez said, predicting that his camp had secured “a great victory”.
But there was similar confidence from allies of Mr Maduro’s rival for the presidency, the until recently little-known ex-diplomat Mr González. He is supported by the prominent conservative congresswoman María Corina Machado, whose place he took after she was banned from running.
“We are going to celebrate in peace,” Mr González told journalists as citizens of the oil-rich South American country waited anxiously for results.
Earlier in the day, the 74-year-old grandfather and former ambassador sent a video message to supporters urging them to vote. “Today is the day. Today is your day,” Mr González told them.
In an interview with the BBC on the eve of the hotly awaited election, Ms Machado claimed the country was approaching a “huge, unique, epic event that will change not only the history of Venezuela but also the whole region”.
“The system is cracking for the first time in 25 years,” Ms Machado claimed of Chavismo, predicting a “huge, historic turnout” that would sweep Mr Maduro from power. Chavismo is the political doctrine of late president Hugo Chávez, in which a powerful centralised state implements radical socialist policies
Throughout the day opposition voters turned out in large numbers across the country hoping to vote Mr Maduro – who they blame for leading Venezuela into a crippling economic and social crisis – out of power.
Mr Maduro, who was elected after Mr Chávez’s premature death from cancer and returned to office in a widely criticised 2018 election boycotted by the opposition, voiced confidence as he visited his late leader’s tomb in Caracas to lay a wreath before dawn on Sunday.
Flanked by the first lady, Cilia Flores, Mr Maduro compared the election – which was timed to coincide with what would have been Chávez’s 70th birthday – to one of the most famous military showdowns in Venezuela’s struggle for independence from Spain.
“This is our Battle of Carabobo and we are heading straight for victory,” he declared, dedicating his campaign to Mr Chávez, under whom he served as foreign minister and vice-president. “This victory is yours, comandante!” Mr Maduro added on X.
A few hours later, after voting, Mr Maduro addressed reporters wearing a tracksuit top stamped with the colours of the country critics accuse him of destroying. “I am certain that everything will work out well and that tomorrow will be a beautiful day,” the 61-year-old said.
But there was tension and nervousness on Sunday night as citizens waited for an official announcement about the vote from the pro-Maduro election authority.
In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay said they were closely following events in Venezuela and believed it was crucial that the results represented the popular will of Venezuelan voters.
US vice-president Kamala Harris tweeted: “The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.” – Guardian