Maduro and opposition claim election victory in Venezuela

The political crisis in Venezuela, which has been going on for years, is likely to worsen once again. Both the government and the opposition are declaring themselves the winners, and many abroad are doubting the official figures.

In Venezuela, the autocratic incumbent Nicolás Maduro and the opposition both see themselves as the winners of the presidential election. The National Electoral Council (CNE) in the crisis-ridden South American country declared Maduro the election winner. The opposition did not recognize the official result and announced that Venezuela had a new president, and that his name was Edmundo González Urrutia. Doubts about the official election result were also quickly raised abroad.

Before Sunday’s election, several polls had predicted that voters would vote for a change of power in Venezuela. However, even before the vote, observers did not believe that the election would be free and fair. According to official figures, Maduro received 51.2 percent of the vote and González 44.2 percent. The opposition reported a different result.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado said González received 70 percent of the vote and Maduro only 30 percent. She cited post-election polls and four independent projections as well as the actual counting results. “This is the election victory by the largest margin in history,” she said.

The 56-year-old industrial engineer was considered the driving force behind González’s candidacy. She was banned from holding public office for 15 years because of alleged irregularities from her time as a member of parliament. The 74-year-old diplomat González was largely unknown in the country until now. “The Venezuelans and the whole world know what happened on today’s election day,” he said.

Leaders in the US and Latin American countries expressed doubts about the official election results. “We have serious concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will or the voice of the Venezuelan people,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“The Maduro regime must understand that the results it is publishing are hard to believe,” wrote Chilean President Gabriel Boric on Platform X.

His Guatemalan counterpart Bernardo Arévalo wrote: “We received the results announced by the CNE with great doubt.”

In contrast, the heads of state of Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Honduras, who are considered to be part of the left-wing and anti-Western camp, congratulated Maduro. China also congratulated him. “China and Venezuela are good friends and partners who support each other,” said a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry in Beijing.

Sunday’s election is likely to exacerbate the years-long political crisis in the oil-rich South American country. Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was not recognized internationally by many countries. The then parliamentary president Juan Guaidó, who was part of the opposition, declared himself interim president in 2019, but was unable to assert himself in the country – mainly because the military stood behind Maduro.

In 2013, the former trade unionist and bus driver Maduro succeeded the charismatic President Hugo Chávez, who died of cancer at the age of 59. He deliberately chose the election day to be Chávez’s 70th birthday. “I am a man of peace and dialogue,” said Maduro after the official results were announced.

Under Maduro, the situation in the once rich country with its large oil reserves deteriorated rapidly. Venezuela suffers from mismanagement, corruption and sanctions. More than 80 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. According to the UN, more than seven million people have left Venezuela in recent years because of poverty and violence. Power outages are a recurring problem. Gas, medicine and petrol are in short supply.