Venezuela election, as it happened: Maduro declared winner, González claims victory

After electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner, opposition candidate Edmundo González said that all rules were violated.

The opposition demanded the electoral authorities present all the voting tallies issued by the voting machines to verify the results.

González, a former diplomat who had never run for public office, questioned whether the National Electoral Council (CNE) has in its hands 80% of the tally sheets, as they claimed close to midnight on Sunday. The CNE is seen by the opposition as favoring the ruling party.

“Our struggle continues and we will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected,” said González, accompanied by opposition leader and former legislator María Corina Machado, the driving force of his campaign.

Right after the electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner, some opposition supporters in Caracas reacted with disbelief.

“It’s not possible that this is happening to us,” Ayarí Padrón said as she started crying after listening to the announcement on a cellphone. “This is a humiliation, really.”

In some areas of the capital people started banging pots as a brief protest.

In his speech, Maduro did not immediately offer any policy promises the likes of which voters repeatedly said the country needs: higher wages, jobs and investments in education and health care.

But he did spend time mocking the facial features of Argentina’s President Javier Milei and calling him a “sociopath… who enjoys inflicting pain” on his country’s people.

Milei had earlier called Maduro a “dictator.”

“The Venezuelans chose to end the dictatorship of communist Nicolás Maduro,” Milei wrote on X. “The data indicate a crushing victory by the opposition and the world awaits that (Maduro) recognizes defeat after years of socialism, misery, decadence and death.”

Venezuela’s opposition claimed Edmundo González defeated President Nicolás Maduro in Sunday’s presidential election, setting up a showdown with the government, which earlier declared Maduro the winner.

“The Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened,” González said in his first remarks.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado made the announcement standing alongside González, whose margin of victory she said was “overwhelming.”
Earlier the opposition said it had obtained voting tallies from about 30% of ballot boxes nationwide, with more expected overnight.

The National Electoral Council, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, has yet to provide the tallies from 30,000 polling booths nationwide.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric said that Maduro’s government “must understand” that the results giving him the victory “are difficult to believe,” and he added that his government won’t recognize “any result that is not verifiable.”

He said on his X account that the international community and the Venezuelan people demand “total transparency” of the tallies.

Chile’s foreign affairs minister added on X, “given the situation in Venezuela, we think its important to wait for the opinion of international observers.”

In a statement on X, Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves rejected Maduro’s win.

“We will work with the democratic countries across the continent and international organizations to achieve the respect the Venezuelan people deserve,” he said.

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

He called for transparency in the vote count.

“The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly,” he said.

“Today the dignity and courage of the Venezuelan people triumphed over pressure and manipulation,” said Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on X.

He offered his warm congratulations to his “brother” Maduro for the victory, and the ongoing commitment of Cuba “to stand by the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution,” he added.

In his first speech after being named the winner of Sunday’s presidential election, Maduro praised his country’s electoral system, describing it as one with a “very high level of trust, security, transparency.”

He also said the system was the target of a failed “massive hack” by a foreign actor, which he refused to identify.

He asked for respect for “the sovereign life of Venezuela” and for “the popular will.”

“This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he said.

Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio quickly panned the electoral council’s announcement of a Maduro victory.

In a post on X, he said Maduro’s government had “just carried out the most predictable and ridiculous sham election in modern history.”

Rubio’s state of Florida has the largest Venezuelan community in the U.S.

Elvis Amoroso, head of the National Electoral Council, said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming opposition candidate Edmundo González, who garnered 44%. He said the results were based on 80% of voting stations, marking an irreversible trend.

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, has yet to release the official voting tallies from each of the more than 15,000 polling centers, hampering the opposition’s ability to verify the results.

The delay in announcing results — six hours after polls were supposed to close — indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.

Opposition representatives said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at 30% of voting centers showed Gonzalez trouncing Maduro.

Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela’s presidential election Sunday, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.

Venezuela Foreign Minister Yvan Gil has condemned what he says in a foreign effort to intervene in the country’s election.

In a statement posted to X, he says the right to self-determination and the sovereignty of Venezuela’s homeland is threatened by a group of foreign governments and powers.

“This group is a version of the infamous, defunct and defeated Lima group,” which includes Latin American countries like Ecuador, Guatemala and Panama, he said.

“The same people who recognized a puppet in 2019 intend to impose him today in 2024,” he said in reference to Juan Guaido who was recognized as Venezuela’s acting president by some countries.

Argentinian President, Javier Milei proclaimed on X, “Dictator Maduro, out!”

“Argentina will not recognize another fraud, and expects the Armed Forces this time to defend democracy and the will of the people,” he said.

The opposition said it has collected official vote tallies from 30% of polling stations and called on authorities to release results in a clear and transparent manner — something it could’ve done hours ago.

“They shouldn’t have any doubt if what they want to do is recognize the popular will,” said Omar Barboza, head of the main opposition coalition.

While stopping short of claiming victory, Barboza said the results it did obtain from campaign representatives at voting stations were in line with the enthusiasm in the street among opponents of Nicolas Maduro. He said it couldn’t obtain more of the official acts due to irregularities and obstacles.

“We ask in the name of peace for the Venezuelans, and the credibility of voting as a tool of the civilized world, do not make a wrong step,” said Barboza.

The Biden administration this month sanctioned a Venezuelan gang allegedly behind a spree of kidnappings, extortion and other violent crimes tied to migrants that have spread across Latin America and the United States.

The U.S. also offered a $12 million reward for the arrest of three leaders of Tren de Aragua, which now joins the MS-13 gang from El Salvador and the Mafia-styled Camorra from Italy on a list of transnational criminal organizations banned from doing business in the U.S.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric said on X, “the delivery of the results of this transcendental election for Venezuela must be transparent, timely and fully reflect the popular will expressed at the polls.”

“The international community, of which Chile is a part, will not accept anything else,” he added.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Brian A. Nichols shared similar sentiments on X.

“Venezuelan voters showed up in huge numbers to express their will at the ballot box,” said Nichols.

“It now falls on electoral authorities to ensure transparency & access for all political parties & civil society in the tabulation of votes & prompt publication of results. Credibility of the electoral process depends on it.”

Eleven years into Venezuela’s complex crisis, the days of food shortages are virtually gone, but with many earning under $200 a month, getting the essentials is a constant struggle for families in rural and urban areas alike. People work second and third jobs, start little businesses, exchange services and gamble to scrape together the money, but still every decision seems to involve a calculator and a calendar.

That angst-provoking math is among the reasons why the ruling party’s hold on power looks vulnerable in today’s presidential election.

More than two hours after being allowed into a voting center to witness the count, 10 residents of the Catia neighborhood exited the polling site to the applause of the roughly 30 people who were still waiting for news of results where they voted hours earlier.

The Caracas site, in a longtime ruling party stronghold, ended up going to González, who took more than twice the votes Maduro got, according to the figures shared by two of the 10 Catia residents who witnessed the tallying process.

Earlier at the site, as people began to read social media posts showing purported voting tallies from other centers favorable to González, some began chanting “And it has fallen, and it has fallen, this government has fallen,” a phrase that for years Venezuelans had chanted with the verbs in future tense instead.

Former legislator Delsa Solórzano, representative of the opposition’s Unitary Platform coalition backing candidate Edmundo González, denounced electoral authorities hours after polls had been scheduled to close.

“There is an important number of voting centers where they are removing our witnesses,” she said. There are others where she said, “they refuse to transmit and print the tallies produced by the voting machines, whose copies are essential to verify that the results correspond with the official results.”

Four hours after the closing time of polling stations expired, electoral authorities have still not officially closed voting.

“At this moment, the National Electoral Council has paralyzed the transmission of the voting tallies,” Solórzano said. Without showing evidence, she said “they are blocking the transmission to prevent a greater number of voting tallies.”

“With the tallies that we have, which are quite numerous,” said Solórzano, “we can say what is happening in the country.”

“We have demonstrated that we are capable of defending the will of the people,” added Solórzano. She affirmed that they will not share percentages. “We are not going to violate the law.”

Venezuela Minister of Defense General Vladimir Padrino López praised his fellow Venezuelans for exercising their civic duty and voting peacefully Sunday.

The armed forces are the traditional arbiter of political disputes in Venezuela, so Padrino’s every word is closely watched. In 2015, when the opposition swept parliamentary elections by a landslide, he recognized the results even before Maduro acknowledged defeat.

On Sunday night, Padrino, flanked by top commanders in uniform, was more subdued. But he also said he was called by Maduro for a meeting to ensure the peaceful voting environment persists once results are announced.

“The Venezuelans are opening a new phase,” said Padrino in ambiguous remarks in which he also condemned U.S. oil sanctions on Venezuela.

The armed forces have been an integral part of Maduro’s grip on power ever since his mentor and predecessor, former paratrooper Hugo Chávez, led an uprising against an unpopular austerity government in 1992.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay said that they are closely following the results in Venezuela and considered it “indispensable” to guarantee that the electoral results “will fully respect the popular will” of Venezuelans.

The Latin American ministers were in favor of a transparent vote count that allows for the verification and control of observers and delegates of the candidates, according to a document issued by the Panamanian Foreign Ministry.

“Maduro knows that the only chance for Venezuela to return to normality is to have an electoral process that is respected by everyone,” Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told reporters at the presidential residence in the capital, Brasilia last week. “He has to respect the democratic process.”

Jorge Rodríguez, Maduro’s campaign chief and head of the overwhelmingly pro-government National Assembly, expressed confidence that the elections will be favorable for the ruling party.

“We cannot give results, but I can show face,” said Rodriguez with a smile. “Violence failed, hatred failed; love won, independence won, Venezuelan sovereignty won and peace won,” in allusion to the main slogans of the ruling party’s campaign.

Rodríguez refrained from giving figures, affirming that the pro-government party is “respectful of the laws of our country and the constitution.” He added, “we will wait,” for the first preliminary bulletin of the National Electoral Council (CNE).

The vote count will be done entirely with an automatic system. The first preliminary results are expected late tonight. Authorities have said that such results will only be issued when they are determined to be irreversible.

Venezuelan law, meanwhile, prohibits the dissemination of exit polls before the first official bulletin.

Tensions are growing as the CNE has not officially closed polling stations, nor announced an extension of the voting period.

Voting has traditionally been scheduled between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m., but the regulations allow for it to be extended at voting sites where there are still voters waiting.

Presidential candidate Edmundo González, together with the opposition leader María Corina Machado, are calling for opposition party observers to stay at the voting centers until they receive the results.

Maduro’s opponents, who have expressed doubts about the impartiality of the electoral authorities, consider a copy of the vote tallies issued by voting machines a key document to demonstrate that the results are a true reflection of each vote cast.

“We reiterate to all citizens that they have the right to participate in a verification,” González said to the press.

Machado said the elections are in a “crucial stage” and calmly asked for the “orderly presence” of the opposition representatives in all the centers.

“Nobody leaves the voting center until we have the proof in our hands of the results,” she said. “We are already receiving the voting tallies and we are counting them one by one.”

Out of respect for the electoral rules she stressed, “we are not in condition to give that information” until the electoral authorities release the first official bulletin.

Venezuela’s opposition leader was beaming with optimism as she urged authorities to order the closure of voting centers that remained open more than an hour after a deadline for vote counting to begin.

“This is the decisive moment,” María Corina Machado, flanked by presidential candidate Edmundo González, said at their campaign headquarters.

Machado was careful not to claim victory before any announcement of results, but said she had already received copies of some official voting acts and they indicated a record turnout.

González was similarly enthused, congratulating Venezuelans on the “historic” day and urging supporters to “celebrate in peace.”

Both called on campaign representatives to remain at the polling stations to avoid any irregularities once vote tallying begins.

Opposition activists were already celebrating online and on the streets of capitals throughout Latin America where Venezuelan migrants have settled, what they assured was a landslide victory for González. Their hope was boosted by purported exit polls circulating on social media showing a healthy margin of victory for González. The polls are not allowed under Venezuelan law.

“The ballot boxes express what the streets already said during all these months of campaigning,” said Nicolás Maduro’s son on X.

“Victory for the Venezuelan pueblo and happy birthday Commander Chávez!” Today would have been the 70th birthday of the former president.

The former president and revered leftist firebrand died of cancer in 2013, leaving Maduro as his political heir.

People at various voting centers in Caracas were demanding poll workers to close the polls one hour after they were supposed to have done so.

At a center in the Catia neighborhood, engineer Alejandro Varzzani, 30, said the refusal to close centers shows that shows the ruling party and its supports are worried. “They are fearful,” he said.

As they waited for the center to close, they sang the song “Venezuela” together — considered the country’s unofficial anthem.

A government supporter yelled “Let’s go, Nico,” referring to President Nicolás Maduro.

At a voting center in a low-income Caracas neighborhood that traditionally supported the ruling party, Angel Yáñez, a state employee said he, too, wants a government change after seeing 12 relatives and other friends migrate and his sister get ready to leave for Europe.

But he acknowledged being nervous about the election’s outcome because he could lose his job if Maduro loses.

“I’m not short on money, but I came here because of the situation that others are in,” the 23-year-old said.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris took to X to express support for Venezuelan people.

“The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election,” Harris wrote.

“The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela.”

Venezuela’s opposition is calling on authorities to close the polls and begin counting ballots.

By law, polling centers should close at 6 p.m. but they also must remain open if there are voters still in line.

At 6:11 p.m. opposition leader María Corina Machado took to social media to demand the National Electoral Council shut down the more than 15,000 voting centers nationwide.

“If there’s nobody in line, the voting booths must close,” she said. “It’s time to see how your votes are counted, ballot by ballot.”

Fifteen minutes past the closing time about 40 people were met by an armed soldier, a member of a people’s militia, and other members of the armed forces when they requested access to a voting center in the low-income neighborhood of Catia to witness the vote counting process as allowed by law. They were told they could not enter because people were still voting, yet no voters could be seen inside and the members of the armed forces and electoral authority representatives refused to close the site.

Minutes later, gang members affiliated with the government showed up on motorcycles to intimidate people trying to witness the vote count.

With less than an hour remaining before polls begin to close, Maduro called on Venezuelans to vote.

“There’s an hour left to go vote,” the president said via the platform X. He urged those who go to take others with them.

Former lawmaker Delsa Solórzano, representative of the opposition’s Unitary Platform coalition, says authorities have blocked her entrance to the National Electoral Council despite her accreditation. They have also blocked two other representatives of the coalition.

“We insist that it is not the same to make a complaint face to face as making it in a WhatsApp message or an email,” said the longtime politician known for her defense of human rights and imprisoned political leaders. “They don’t give a reason for this situation.”

Still, she said her coalition was optimistic. “We have a lot of reasons to smile,” she said. “What we ask is that they simply follow the law.”

Maduro’s stunningly close victory over Henrique Capriles by only about 300,000 votes came after a campaign in which the winner promised to carry on Chavez’s self-proclaimed socialist revolution while the challenger’s main message was that Chavez’s regime put Venezuela on the road to ruin.

Allies of the ruling party have been met with jeers when going to the polls to vote. In the state of Miranda, which includes a portion of the capital, some voters screamed “Leave! Leave!” when Gov. Hector Rodriguez reached his polling center.

Rodriguez is a member of the delegation that has represented President Nicolás Maduro in negotiations with the U.S.-backed Unitary Platform.

A nationwide poll conducted last month by the Venezuela-based research firm Delphos showed that roughly a fourth of people are thinking about migrating, primarily for economic reasons. Of those thinking about leaving Venezuela, about 47% said an electoral win by the opposition would make them stay and roughly the same amount indicated that an improved economy would also keep them in their home country.

The head of the UN Refugee Agency Filippo Grandi spoke to The Associated Press today in Paris about his hopes for Venezuela.

“Whichever the outcome of elections and of any political process, regarding negotiations for an agreement and internal agreement, I do wish for the Venezuelan people a return to stability and prosperity that they used to enjoy in the past,” Grandi said.

He also hoped for the restoration of good relations between Venezuelans and all members of the international community, “so that everybody can help Venezuelans have a better future,” he added.

In a message addressed to Venezuelans who have migrated in recent years and “who are anxious to return,” Machado said today, “that reunion is very close”.

“I want to remind everyone that scrutiny is a public act, people can enter and see it,” Machado told the press.

The former legislator, who could not register as the Unitary Platform coalition candidate, after the judicial authorities disqualified her for 15 years, propelled the candidacy of her replacement, Edmundo González.

Whether at the voting centers or table by table, Machado cited electoral laws and processes, telling party representatives they have a right to a copy of the minutes issued by the machines. The crucial document checks that votes correspond with the official figures issued by the electoral authorities.

Machado agreed with electoral authorities that they could see official results, “irreversible and early.”

“We’ve received very few reports of incidents of the military’s conduct,” said Machado regarding the armed forces in charge of logistics and security of the national elections.

Machado downplayed incidents in some voting centers where representatives of opposition parties were prevented from entering, despite the fact that they were authorized to act as witnesses of the voting process. But she thanked the military for what she called their respectful behavior.

“This government is going to fall!” shouted Machado’s followers as she left the voting center.

Venezuelans turned out to vote on Sunday at a school in the Colombian capital, Bogotá, where some 4,300 citizens were registered to vote. In a nearby park attendees waved flags and shouted in unison for “freedom”.

In the northern port city of Barranquilla, where 387 Venezuelans were registered, the sentiment was similar. The president of a Venezuelan association in the city, Pilín León, told the press that voting went “quite smoothly”.

Several Venezuelans went to the embassy in Lima, Peru, to vote with flags in their hands and sang the Venezuelan anthem. 659 citizens were registered to vote.

However, Venezuelan citizens cannot vote in countries like Ecuador. In April, Nicolás Maduro ordered the Venezuelan embassy to shut down in solidarity with Mexico after the police raid on its embassy.

Instead, dozens of Venezuelans chose to attend a religious ceremony in a church in the country’s capital, Quito. In the southern city of Cuenca, Venezuelans gathered in a park chanting for “freedom” and “democracy” in their home country.

That’s according to Maria Gabriela Chavez, one of the late president’s daughters, as she cast her ballot at a school classroom under the watchful gaze of Chavez’s face painted on the wall.

“We need to win,” she told AP of the advice her father would likely have given had he been alive today.

Sunday’s vote is being held on what would’ve been the 70th birthday of Chavez, who died in 2013 of cancer.

Chavez said she doesn’t disapprove of the decision, which seeks to stir admiration for her father’s legacy and give Maduro, his handpicked political heir, a possible boost in a tight race.

“We always mix family with politics,” said Chávez, who nonetheless plans to lay a wreath at her father’s tomb in a hilltop army fort later Sunday.

Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, Chief General Vladimir Padrino López, said during the first six hours of voting, “no incident worth mentioning has occurred. The day has passed in peace.”

The military chief asked Venezuelans not to share comments about alleged acts of violence in the surroundings of voting centers, saying that, “what appears on social media is not always true.”

The unitary opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia says that he trusts that the Venezuelan Armed Forces “will respect the will of the people.”

The military, in charge of logistics and security of the elections, is one of the main supporters of President Nicolás Maduro.

The president’s opponents have tried to unsuccessfully enlist the support of the military to force Maduro to step down from power, arguing that he was re-elected in 2018 in fraudulent elections.

Senior military commanders, including the Minister of Defense, publicly expressed their support and loyalty to Maduro.

For many, the military would have much to lose if there was a political change in Venezuela after 25 years of self-proclaimed socialist governments.

It’s hard to say exactly how religious Venezuelans are and what specifically they believe, because the government has not released official figures in more than a decade.

The opposition candidate Edmundo González expressed his satisfaction with the massive presence of Venezuelans lined up since late Saturday night and Sunday morning at voting centers.

“Today more than ever Venezuelans are demonstrating that we are one people. What we see are lines of joy and hope. Today begins a day of reconciliation for all Venezuelans,” said González, surrounded by journalists, shortly after casting his vote.

“The democratic spirit of Venezuelans is more alive than ever, it’s time for change,” added the ex-diplomat. If victorious, Gonzalez promised to create conditions for the almost 8 million Venezuelans to return to their home country after fleeing compounding crises.

“We do not want more Venezuelans leaving the country, and for those who have left I tell them we will do everything possible for them to come back and welcome them with open arms,” he said.

“To all the Venezuelans around the world, your strength and commitment encourages us. We are one people in search of freedom,” he added.