By The opinion
29 Jul 2024, 02:00 AM EDT
With the chants and euphoria of his followers, the Venezuelan president said that “national independence and the dignity of the Venezuelan people triumphed. They could not overcome the sanctions, the threats, they could not now and they will never be able to overcome the dignity of the Venezuelan people.”
Maduro, in power since 2013, called on Sunday for “respect for the popular will” after being proclaimed re-elected president, following an election in which he competed against nine contenders, including the standard-bearer of the majority opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia.
“That is what I portray as president, respect for the Constitution, the public powers and the sovereign life of Venezuela.respect for the popular will (…) I will defend our law and our desire,” the president stressed before dozens of supporters who gathered near the presidential palace to listen to his victory speech.
He promised that, with this victory, he will give “his entire life to carry out all the changes that this country needs,” which experienced an intense economic crisis between 2014 and 2021, from which it has begun to recover slightly.
Maduro assured that he will work in his third term “to rescue all the rights violated by the economic war,” in reference to the economic sanctions imposed by numerous countries in recent years, especially the United States.
He considered that his re-election “is the triumph of peace, of stability, of the republican ideal, of the ideas of equality.”
According to the first bulletin of the National Electoral Council (CNE), Maduro was re-elected on Sunday with 51.2% of the votes, while González Urrutia obtained 44.2% of the votes.
*With information from EFE.
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