Venezuela’s Opposition Declares Victory Despite Government Declaring Maduro Winner In Election

Venezuela’s opposition has declared victory in Sunday’s presidential
election, challenging the government’s earlier announcement that President
Nicolás Maduro won.

The National Electoral Council, controlled by Maduro loyalists, reported that
Maduro secured 51% of the vote to González’s 44%.

However, they withheld the detailed tallies from the 30,000 polling booths,
promising to release them in the “coming hours,” which has hindered
verification of the results.

In his victory speech, Maduro mocked Argentina’s President Javier Milei,
calling him a “sociopath, who enjoys inflicting pain.”
The announcement sets up Maduro for a third presidential term that would
expire in 2031 and that would extend into a third decade the socialist
revolution initiated by his predecessor and mentor, the late president Hugo
Chávez.

Meanwhile, the head of the country’s National Electorate Council, Elvis
Amoroso, said Maduro beat opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez 51.2%
to 44.2%, based on data obtained from 80% of the voting stations.
The other eight candidates competing in the election obtained 4.6% of the
vote among them, the council said.

However, Gonzalez and his political mentor, Maria Corina Machado,
immediately questioned the results announced by the council, pointing out

that the data they had received directly from the electoral agency, before it
halted the process without explanation, showed Gonzalez with 70% of the
vote compared to barely 30% for Maduro.

Machado asked his followers to continue waiting at the polling stations to
receive the rest of the voting records and finish gathering evidence needed to
document fraud.

Image credit: npr.org