Although official tallies from 15,000 polling stations across the country have yet to be released, Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of this weekend’s election, which has been questioned by international leaders, including the Biden-Harris administration’s secretary of state.
Saturday, Venezuelan People began lining up on Sunday for a chance to vote for their country’s next president. They had two options: Maduro, who took power in 2013 after the death of socialist dictator Hugo Chavez, or Edmundo González Urrutia, a 74-year-old political novice and opposition leader who won the presidential election in 2014. Maria Corina Machado A year ago, he was disqualified from running for office for “his involvement in a corruption scheme orchestrated by usurper Juan Guaido.”
Guaido ran against Maduro in the 2018 presidential election and was recognised as the winner by several foreign leaders, but Maduro was ultimately declared the official winner.
“Look what happens when Communism takes root. This is what Kamala wants. She must be stopped!”
Results for the 2024 election began being counted Sunday night, and Urrutia and his supporters were heartened by early vote counts that suggested a landslide victory. Machado said the tallies she and her group have seen (representing about 40% of the total votes) showed Urrutia “won 70% of the votes in this election and Maduro won 30%.”
Late that evening, Venezuelan authorities reportedly stopped sharing official results with the opposition, and polling stations had still not closed an hour after the scheduled close of voting.
Then, just after midnight, the Maduro-friendly National Electoral Council announced that with 80% of the votes counted, Maduro held a commanding lead over Urrutia, 51.2% to 44.2%. El Pais Described as a “personal friend of President Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores,” he said the outcome was “irreversible.”
“I can tell the world that I am the re-elected president of Venezuela,” Maduro said at Miraflores Palace, the seat of Venezuela’s government.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel was quick to congratulate “brother” Maduro, saying: “Today, the dignity and courage of the Venezuelan people have triumphed over pressure and manipulation.” Diaz-Canel Posted by X at 12:19 AM
Russian President Putin also offered his congratulations, saying Maduro was “always a welcome guest on Russian soil.”
But other foreign leaders have expressed concern about the secretive nature of the vote-counting process.
Rodrigo Chavez RoblesCosta Rica’s president denounced the election results as “fraudulent” and “totally dishonorable.”[d]”We will work with the continent’s democratic governments and international organizations to ensure that the sacred will of the Venezuelan people is respected.” Robles Said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Chile Albert van Claveren Spain’s foreign minister said his country would “not recognise any findings” until a thorough review of all proceedings had taken place and “the opinions of international observers” had been publicly shared. Jose Manuel Alvarezsimilarly called for “full transparency” regarding the election results.
Argentine President Javier Milley called Maduro a “sociopath” and a “dictator.”
Even the Biden-Harris administration’s Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has expressed “serious concerns” about a possible Maduro victory. “We have just seen the announcement from the Venezuelan Electoral Commission,” Blinken said in a statement during a visit to Tokyo. “We have serious concerns that the announced results do not reflect the will and vote of the Venezuelan people.”
Hours before Venezuela’s polls closed, Vice President Kamala Harris, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted, “The United States stands with the Venezuelan people who made their voices heard in today’s historic Presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous and secure future for the Venezuelan people.”
Predictably, X users slammed Harris in the comments section.
- “Look what happens when communism takes root. This is what Kamala wants. She must be stopped!” read one popular comment.
- “If Trump isn’t elected, the US will become Venezuela,” another added.
- “Communist Harris is America’s Hugo Chavez. She’s trying to lead America down the same path,” another person quipped.
As of Monday morning, neither Harris nor Biden had made any additional statements about Venezuela’s elections.
For now, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado sees Urrutia as the real winner. “Venezuela has a new president, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. We won, and everyone knows it. I want everyone to know that this victory is an overwhelming, great victory that we achieved in all sectors throughout the country,” she said.
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