Venezuelan Authority Proclaims Maduro as President in Disputed Election

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaks during his proclamation at the CNE headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 29, 2024. (Fedrico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)

Venezuela’s electoral body has declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner of its national election, handing the socialist strongman another six-year term as the leader of a distraught country struggling to feed itself.

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Mr. Maduro’s ruling party, announced on July 29 that Mr. Maduro had secured more than 51 percent of the vote with 80 percent of all votes tallied. The opposition candidate, Edmundo González, lost with 44.2 percent.

Both Mr. Maduro and Mr. González have claimed victory. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado claimed that the latter won with 70 percent of the vote and declared him the president-elect, resulting in an election dispute that is prompting Venezuelans to take to the streets to voice their frustrations.

Mr. González, who emerged as Ms. Machado’s last-minute replacement after the Maduro regime banned her from running for office, called the government’s official tallies fraudulent.

“We will not rest until the will of the people of Venezuela is respected,” Mr. González said in a statement.

The National Electoral Council didn’t release tallies from polling booths. It also delayed the announcement of the election results when the opposition expressed confidence that it had the votes necessary to defeat Mr. Maduro.

Citing “serious concerns” about the integrity of the process, Washington stated that it is not recognizing the Venezuelan election results.

“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“It’s critical that every vote be 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. The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly.”

Similar skepticism about the legitimacy of Venezuela’s electoral process also came from leaders from across South America, including a few who sided with the opposition to outright reject the election results.

“Dictator Maduro, Out!!!” Argentine President Javier Milei wrote on social media platform X. “Argentina is not going to recognize another fraud, and hopes that the Armed Forces this time will defend democracy and the popular will.”

“It was an open secret. They were going to ‘win’ regardless of the actual results,” Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou said. “The process up to election day and counting was clearly flawed. You cannot recognize a triumph if you can’t trust the forms and mechanisms used to achieve it.”

Russia and Cuba recognized Mr. Maduro’s claim to victory, celebrating a third term for the socialist leader, who has ruled Venezuela for more than a decade, following in the footsteps of his socialist predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

“I am confident that your activities at the head of state will continue to contribute to their progressive development in all directions,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said of Mr. Maduro, according to Russian state media outlet TASS.

“Nicolas Maduro, my brother, your victory, which is that of the Bolivarian and Chavista people, has cleanly and unequivocally defeated the pro-imperialist opposition,” Cuban communist leader Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X.