Opposition rejects Maduro’s victory

The Venezuelan opposition on Monday rejected President Nicolás Maduro’s victory in Sunday’s elections, saying it had results confirming a landslide victory for its candidate, Edmundo González.

The National Electoral Commission, controlled by the Chavista government, declared Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, contradicting two initial forecasts from the international institute Edison Research and the local organization Meganalisis, which had indicated a 65% victory for González. Maduro was quick to celebrate a “victory for peace and stability,” but the opposition rejected the official results, saying their parallel count showed González winning with at least 70% of the vote. “Venezuela has elected a new president, and it is Edmundo González. We have won!” said opposition leader María Corina Machado, calling on the military to enforce the results: “The Venezuelan people have spoken and rejected Maduro. It is time for the military cadres to stand on the right side of History,” he wrote in X.

Meanwhile, shouting “See you until the end,” thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets to reject the election results. Protests began in several regions of the interior of the country, including in Falcón state, where in the Plaza Chávez de las Eugenias, dozens of protesters tried to tear down a statue of the late socialist leader Hugo Chávez, who led the country between 1999 and 2013. In La Isabelica, Valencia, Carabobo state (centre-north of the country), hundreds of people, including dozens of motorcyclists, took to the streets to protest the results.

On the highway connecting Caracas with the neighboring state of La Guaira (north), people set tires on fire, disrupting traffic.

The announcement of Maduro’s victory also raised doubts outside the country. The US accused the Venezuelan regime of “repression and electoral manipulation”, while Argentine spin doctor Javier Miley spoke of “fraud”, and the governments of Costa Rica and Peru refused to accept the results, which had not been independently verified.

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PORTUGAL DEMANDING ‘IMPARTICULAR VERIFICATION’
This Monday, the Foreign Ministry deemed it necessary to “impartially verify the results” of the elections in Venezuela. “Only transparency will guarantee legitimacy; we call for democratic justice and a spirit of dialogue,” the MNE emphasized.

PCP Welcomes Maduro
The PCP welcomed the re-election of Nicolás Maduro and rejected “interference maneuvers” aimed at “questioning the electoral process and its results.”