Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro claimed an unexpected victory in Sunday’s election, securing a third six-year term in a result t hat opposition leaders have contested, alleging manipulation of the vote count.
Maduro claimed 51% of the vote, overcoming the main opposition candidate, Edmundo González, who garnered 44%, according to the official count. A small number countries have recognized Maduro’s victory, while others have expressed serious concerns about the election’s integrity.
Maduro’s legitimacy has been questioned since his first election win in 2013, but on Sunday he received strong support from long-time allies China and Russia.
China’s foreign ministry congratulated him and called for greater cooperation, while Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized Venezuela as a strategic ally in the western hemisphere.
Beijing is Venezuela’s main creditor, maintaining close ties with the diplomatically isolated and inflation-ravaged socialist nation, while Moscow continues to be its key military supporter.
Other countries recognizing Maduro’s victory include Bolivia, Cuba, Honduras, Nicaragua, North Korea and Syria. These nations have all extended their congratulations to the current president on securing his third term.
‘Many Doubts’
The Venezuelan electoral authority, controlled by Maduro loyalists, did not immediately release the tallies from the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, keeping the country awake until midnight when they announced the unlikely result.
The opposition said it had voting tallies from about 40% of ballot boxes nationwide, with more expected overnight, and announced the victory while standing alongside Edmundo Gonzalez, describing his margin of victory as “overwhelming.”
“The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” Gonzalez said in his first remarks, setting up a showdown with the government.
Speaking from Japan, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Biden administration had “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.”
The EU‘s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also called for the government to respect the will of the voters and release voting records in a statement published in Spanish and English on social media.
Some Latin American countries also expressed skepticism about the vote. Chile, under leftist President Gabriel Boric, called the results “hard to believe” and an affront to democratic values. “From Chile, we will not recognize any result that cannot be verified,” Boric stated, stressing the need for full transparency.
Governments from Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, which supported efforts for a free election in Venezuela, have each issued cautious statements following the results, calling for transparency. Presidents Lula, Petro, and Lopez Obrador have not commented directly.
Costa Rica, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and Panama have refused to recognize Maduro’s victory.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
