ALBAWABA - According to Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE), President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in the presidential election with 51% of the votes, while the opposition reportedly rejected the results, also claiming a landslide victory.
Maduro secured 51.2 percent of the votes, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia received 44.2 percent, the electoral council announced. Despite being boycotted by a number of opposition parties, two candidates took part in the elections and came in second and third place after Maduro.
Prior to the CNE announcement, the re-elected president held a rally surrounded by thousands of his supporters to celebrate the awaited victory. "I can say, before the people of Venezuela and the world, I am Nicolas Maduro Moros, the re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela," Maduro stated.
Meanwhile, opposition leader Maria Corina Machado stressed her coalition's rejection of the results, claiming that they had garnered more than 70 percent of the votes.
"We want to say to all of Venezuela and the world that Venezuela has a new president-elect and it is (candidate) Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. We won." Machado told journalists in a press conference.
Several Latin countries decried the results, claiming that they were fraudulent. Chilean president Gabriel Boric stated that the results are "hard to believe" while Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves denounced Maduro's win.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed "serious concerns that the result did not reflect the will of Venezuelan voters". Additionally, Peru announced it had recalled its ambassador for consultation over the results.
Maduro has been in power since 2013 and has been accused of clamping down on critics and harassing the opposition in an era of increasing authoritarianism. According to a Venezuelan NGO, Caracas has held 305 "political prisoners" and detained 135 people associated with the opposition movement since January.
Gonzalez Urrutia had stated that the opposition was "prepared to defend" the vote and that "our armed forces will respect the decision of our people".
