Venezuela’s Maduro : Incumbent Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela, securing a third six-year term with 51.2 percent of the vote, according to Elvis Amoroso, president of the CNE electoral authority. Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who had been leading in opinion polls, received 44.2 percent of the vote.Venezuela’s Maduro
The opposition, led by Gonzalez, has stated they are preparing to dispute the results. Gonzalez, who replaced popular opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ticket after authorities loyal to Maduro excluded her from the race, claimed that he had actually won 70 percent of the vote. In a speech to supporters in Caracas, Gonzalez accused the government of violating “all rules and norms” to the extent that they were denied seeing most of the ballots. Despite his dissatisfaction, Gonzalez emphasized that he would not incite his supporters to take to the streets or engage in acts of violence.Venezuela’s Maduro
Maduro, 61, first ascended to power in 2013 after the death of his mentor, socialist Hugo Chavez. He has been accused of suppressing critics and harassing the opposition, while failing to resolve a prolonged economic crisis that has led over seven million of Venezuela’s 30 million citizens to emigrate. The opposition campaigned on a promise to end the economic crisis, and exit polls had suggested they stood a strong chance of defeating Maduro.
Venezuela’s Maduro
Sunday’s election was the result of an agreement last year between the government and the opposition, which had temporarily led the United States to ease sanctions imposed after Maduro’s 2018 re-election, widely dismissed as a sham by many Western and Latin American countries. However, the sanctions were reinstated after Maduro reneged on the agreed conditions.
International reaction to the election results has been mixed. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed concerns about the legitimacy of Maduro’s victory, calling for the votes to be counted “fairly and transparently.” Chile’s President Gabriel Boric described the results as “hard to believe,” while Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou stated that the “counting was clearly flawed.”
In contrast, Maduro received congratulations from allies in Bolivia, Honduras, and Cuba. Cuba’s President Miguel Diaz-Canel asserted that Maduro had “cleanly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition.” Additionally, China’s foreign ministry extended its congratulations to Maduro on his re-election.
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