Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro won the presidential election on 28 July, securing a third term in office.
The first bulletin from the country’s National Electoral Council (CNE) said Maduro had shown an “irreversible trend” by winning 51.2 per cent of the vote, while his main rival, opposition candidate Edmundo González, received 44.2 per cent.
Voter turnout in the presidential race was 59 per cent. The first announcement was made after 80 per cent of polling stations had been counted.
We call on everyone to respect the constitution, the law and the will of the people,’ said CNE president Elvis Amoroso at a midnight press conference on Sunday. Amoroso added that the results had been delayed due to ‘an attack on the transmission system’ and called on the authorities to investigate.
Maduro dedicates victory to Chávez
Maduro joined the jubilant crowd outside the Miraflores presidential palace, declaring the election ‘a victory for national independence’.
Addressing his supporters, the president said: ‘Fascism will not pass through the land of Bolívar and Chávez. This is a victory for peace, for stability and for our republic,’ he said.
Maduro called on the United States and other international actors to respect the results and not to interfere in the Caribbean country’s internal affairs.
The president dedicated the victory to former president Hugo Chávez, whose 70th birthday will be celebrated on Sunday, saying: ‘The Venezuelan people have never let you down!
US-backed opposition refuses to recognise results
María Corina Machado, a right-wing politician who led the opposition campaign, told reporters that González was Venezuela’s newly elected president and had won in every state.
We have won a landslide victory and everyone knows it,’ Machado said.
Machado called on his supporters to ‘defend the truth’ and said the armed forces must ‘ensure that the results are respected’.
Milei calls for ‘coup’
On the other hand, the Argentine government and its leader Javier Milei claimed that the elections in Venezuela were rigged and called on Nicolás Maduro to ‘respect the will of the people through the ballot box’.
Milei said: ‘Venezuelans have decided to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. The data declare the overwhelming victory of the opposition and the world expects him to concede defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death,’ Mile said.
Through his Milei X account, he said he hoped ‘that Argentina will not accept another fraud and that this time the armed forces will defend democracy and the will of the people’.
The Argentine leader said he would not recognise the election results and said: ‘Dictator Maduro, get out!
The Argentine president’s tweet caused outrage in Caracas and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded.
“The Argentine people will pay for this sooner or later, our overwhelming victory is a clear sign that our people will defeat the fascism you support,” Gil said from X.
Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino also called on Maduro to ‘accept defeat’, saying: ‘The margin against the Chavista dictatorship is huge. They lost more than 35 per cent of the vote in all the states. There was no rigging or violence to hide the truth’.
Congratulations to Maduro from Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras
Following Maduro’s victory, comments on the results began to pour in from South America and the Caribbean.
Bolivian President Luis Arce congratulated Maduro for ‘respecting the will of the Venezuelan people at the ballot box’.
We are closely following this democratic celebration and we welcome the fact that the will of the Venezuelan people has been respected at the ballot box,’ Arce said.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel also congratulated Maduro on this ‘historic victory’. Today the dignity and courage of the Venezuelan people triumphed over repression and manipulation,’ the Cuban leader wrote on X.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo sent a letter to Maduro, hailing the ‘great victory’ in the letter published by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro also congratulated Maduro on his ‘indisputable victory that reaffirms his sovereignty’.
The US, Chile and Costa Rica say Maduro’s victory has been overshadowed
Chilean President Gabriel Boric was sceptical about the results.
The Maduro regime must understand that it is difficult to believe the results it has published,’ Boric wrote, making clear that his country would not recognise ‘unverifiable’ data.
The international community and especially the Venezuelan people, including the millions of Venezuelans in exile, demand that the electoral registration and process be fully transparent and that international observers who do not agree with the government declare the accuracy of the results,’ Boric added.
The Costa Rican government said in a statement that it did not recognise Maduro’s election, calling it ‘fraudulent’ and ‘rejected’.
Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo also said his government was ‘very hesitant’ to accept the results announced by the CNE.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed ‘serious concerns’ about the election results.
Blinken said: ‘We have serious concerns that the announced results do not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people. It is critical that every vote be counted in a fair and transparent manner, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers, and that election officials release a detailed breakdown of the votes,’ Blinken said.
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