The National Electoral Council of Venezuela, controlled by supporters of the current authoritarian president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, announced his victory in the elections. According to their data, Maduro won 51% of the vote, and the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 44%. UNN writes about this with reference to Deutsche Welle
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The opposition, which was predicted to win according to media reports, claims violations during the voting and plans to appeal the results. According to the opposition, they have voting protocols from only 30% of ballot boxes, and the election authority did not immediately release data from the polling stations. Earlier, many polls pointed to a likely victory for the opposition in the election, Reuters noted.
The opposition coalition said it would not recognize the election results announced by the government-controlled National Election Council. The opposition claims to have won 70% of the vote, not 44%.
Chile, Costa Rica and Peru also said they would not recognize the results of the elections in Venezuela. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken called for a fair vote count.
We have serious concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will and voices of the Venezuelan people
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Maduro will serve a third consecutive six-year term. He became president after the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013.