Opposition cries fraud as Maduro declared winner in controversial Venezuelan election
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of the July 28 election, despite exit polls indicating a likely opposition victory.
The head of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Elvis Amoroso, announced on July 29, that with 80% of ballots counted, Maduro had secured 51% of the vote, compared to 44% for his main rival, Edmundo González.
The opposition party, Plataforma Unitaria Democratica (PUD), has rejected the CNE's announcement, labelling it as fraudulent and vowing to challenge the results.
Maria Corina Machado, the leader of the PUD, said that González had won with 70% of the votes, claiming he was the rightful president-elect.
“Venezuela has a new president-elect and it is Edmundo González. We won and the whole world knows it,” she declared in a joint statement with González.
Backing the opposition’s claims, independent exit polls and quick counts showed a decisive victory for González. Edison Research, renowned for its polling in US elections, predicted in an exit poll that González would secure 65% of the vote, while Maduro would only achieve 31%.
International reactions to the election results have been swift. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people” during a press conference on July 29.
During the election campaign, Maduro remained confident, telling supporters ten days before the vote that he had a “fair lead.” He warned at another rally in the Venezuelan capital that “If they do not want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, the ruling party must win the presidential elections on July 28.”
Maduro’s 2018 re-election was largely boycotted by the opposition and condemned as illegitimate by a coalition of 14 Latin American nations, Canada, and the United States.
