Nicolas Maduro declared winner in Venezuela’s prez poll as Opposition claims irregularities

Caracas, July 29

Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela’s presidential election on Monday, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.

Shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming the main opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzaacute;lez, who garnered 44%.

Putin hails South American ally’s win

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Nicolas Maduro on his re-election as president of Venezuela, saying Moscow enjoyed a strategic partnership with the South American nation. Reuters

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US expresses ‘serious concerns’

The US has “serious concerns” about the presidential election in Venezuela, the White House said on Monday, adding that it wants Venezuelan officials to publish full detailed tabulation of votes. Reuters

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn’t immediately release the tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, hampering the opposition’s ability to challenge the results after claiming it had data for only 30% of the ballot boxes.

Foreign leaders held off recognising the results as the electoral council promised to release official tallies in the “coming hours.”

“The Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to believe,” said Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile. “We won’t recognise any result that is not verifiable.”

The delay in announcing results — six hours after polls were supposed to close — indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.

When Maduro finally came out to celebrate the results, he accused unidentified foreign enemies for trying to hack the voting system. “This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he said. — AP