Venezuela’s Maduro, Opposition Each Claim Presidential Victory

Venezuelan President and presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech following the presidential election results in Caracas, on July 29, 2024. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his opposition rival Edmundo Gonzalez were each claiming victory in a presidential election on Monday morning.

Although Mr. Maduro was declared the winner, governments and leaders of several nations—including the United States—have expressed doubts about the legitimacy of the election results.

Venezuela’s electoral authority said that Mr. Maduro won a third six-year term with 51 percent of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who received 44 percent of the vote.

It said the results were based on a count of 80 percent of the ballot boxes. The results came as a shock as multiple exit polls had earlier indicated that Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia was leading the polls.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was banned from running for president, rejected the result and claimed that Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia had garnered 70 percent of the vote.

She urged the armed forces of Venezuela to respect the people’s sovereignty and declare that Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia is the elected president.

Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia told reporters that his party “will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.”

“The results are undeniable. The country chose a peaceful change,” he stated on social media platform X.

Mr. Maduro described his reelection as a triumph of peace and said he will sign a decree on Monday to hold a “great national dialogue.” He first took office in 2013 after then-President Hugo Chavez died from cancer.

Several nations have expressed concerns about Venezuela’s election results. State Secretary Antony Blinken said the United States has “serious concerns” that the result does not reflect the will of the people.

“It’s critical that every vote is counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and electoral observers without delay and that the electoral authorities publish detailed tabulation of votes,” Mr. Blinken said at a press conference in Tokyo, Japan.

Mr. Blinken said the international community will be watching the situation in Venezuela “very closely” and will “respond accordingly.”

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said the Venezuelan election results were “hard to believe,” adding that his government will “not recognize any result that is not verifiable.”

“The international community and especially the Venezuelan people, including the millions of Venezuelans in exile, demand total transparency of the minutes and the process, and that international observers not committed to the government account for the veracity of the results,” he stated on X.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani expressed doubts about the conduct of the elections and urged Venezuelan authorities to release “verifiable results” and provide access to relevant documents.

Peru’s Foreign Minister Javier Gonzalez-Olaechea also condemned the “irregularities” in the election results and said his nation “will not accept the violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people.”

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado (R) talks to the media, accompanied by opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia (L), following the presidential election results in Caracas, on July 29, 2024. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares also called on Venezuelan authorities to release the polling data and “verifiable results” in full.

Mr. Maduro’s government has presided over an economic collapse, the migration of about a third of the population, and a sharp deterioration in diplomatic relations, crowned by sanctions imposed by the United States, the European Union, and others that have crippled an already struggling oil industry.

Reuters contributed to this report.