Current Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has declared himself the winner of Sunday’s presidential election by a slight margin of 51.20% of the vote. However, the main opposition party has declared its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia the winner by a landslide of 70%.
The results claimed by the regime were announced by Elvis Amoroso, president of the electoral body controlled by Maduro, more than six hours after the voting centers closed and with only 80% of the votes counted, according to Amoroso. He also said the data transmission system suffered a computer attack, which will be investigated and which accounted for the results taking longer than expected to be announced. Also according to his first report from the electoral body controlled by Maduro’s regime, the leader of the opposition, Urrutia, obtained 4,445,978 votes, which represents 44.2% of the votes.
María Corina Machado, the face of the opposition, cited independent exit polls that put her party and Urrutia far ahead of Maduro. The Washington Post reports that New Jersey-based Edison Research Exit polling released after voting centers began to close Sunday evening showed Urrurtía taking 65% of the vote, more than double Maduro’s 31%.
The opposition had also sent hundreds of ordinary Venezuelans to monitor polls and to collect the initial printouts of election results at each polling place, which are used to verify the vote. Even as Maduro proclaimed victory, Machado encouraged these Venezuelans to remain at the polling places and insist on obtaining copies of the printouts even if initially denied copies by poll workers. She also stated that her opposition already had enough evidence that the initial results from the electronic voting machines contradicted the results proclaimed by Maduro. Some opposition election observers said they had been removed or refused copies of the election results.
The election has been closely watched internationally, and governments in both North and South America have refused to immediately recognize the election results touted by Maduro.
“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. He called on the electoral council to publish the tabulation of votes. “It’s critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently.”
Javier Milei, president of Argentina, said no one believed the results claimed by Maduro and that Argentina would not recognize another election fraud.
Even the Colombian government, which is friendly to Maduro, expressed doubts about Maduro’s claim of victory as the minister of foreign affairs called for an independent count of the vote.
In Caracas, the sounds of protest—the banging of pots and pans—started to ring as soon as Maduro announced his electoral win.
In statements at a press conference, Urrutia said “Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened here” and how “the rules have been violated and our witnesses have been prevented from recovering the minutes.” He then recalled that “it is the duty of the Armed forces to enforce the popular will expressed in the vote.”
Machado concluded the press conference by pointing out that “every Venezuelan must defend what is theirs” because “our fight continues and we will not rest until the will of the people is respected.”
The Washington Post also reports that violence had already erupted at some polling places when armed motorcycle gangs of Maduro supporters arrived at some polling sites to prevent opposition observers from receiving printouts of the polling results.
“Maduro has a huge problem on his hands. If the government doesn’t actually back up the results with data, Maduro is inviting the biggest loyalty test he’s faced in years,” Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who is focused on Venezuela, told the Washington Post. “This doesn’t end here. Maduro has to convince the ruling elite that he can keep things under control, but both he and the military know that he can’t govern a country in flames.”