Exiled Venezuelan politician Leopoldo López denounced a “fraud” after the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that with 80% of the votes counted, President Nicolás Maduro was re-elected for a third term with 51.20% of the votes in the elections held this Sunday.
“CNE announces a FRAUD and all of Venezuela knows it. This fraud is not sustainable,” the Venezuelan opposition leader said.
According to the first report, the candidate of the majority opposition, Edmundo González Urrutia, obtained 4,445,978 votes, which represents 44.2% of the votes.
Before announcing the results, the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, said that the data transmission system suffered an attack, which will be investigated, which is why – he explained – the announcement of the winner took longer than expected, although he did not give further details on the matter.
Leopoldo López, who has lived in Madrid since 2020 after fleeing Venezuela, was in prison accused of “committing the crimes of arson, public incitement, damage to public property and criminal association,” among others.
Together with opposition leader Juan Guaidó – who was then self-proclaimed interim president – he attempted a military uprising that did not succeed.
For its part, Anti-Chavez leader Maria Corina Machado proclaimed on Monday that the “new president-elect” of Venezuela is former ambassador Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, despite the fact that the National Electoral Council previously announced the victory of the official candidate, Nicolás Maduro, in the elections held on July 28.
For his part, Chilean President Gabriel Boric warned that the results offered, which give victory to Nicolás Maduro, “are difficult to believe” and that his country will not recognize “any result that is not verifiable.”
“The Maduro regime must understand that the results it publishes are difficult to believe. The international community and above all the Venezuelan people, including the millions of Venezuelans in exile, demand total transparency of the minutes and the process, and that international observers not compromised with the Government account for the veracity of the results,” the progressive president indicated on his X account.
“Chile will not recognize any result that is not verifiable,” Boric added.
Since coming to power in March 2022, Boric has been one of the harshest voices in the region against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, a stance that has set him apart from other progressive leaders, such as Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva or Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, who in the past have shown a more tolerant attitude but have hardened their tone in recent days.
During the campaign, Maduro had already confirmed that he would win the elections, considering that he is the “only” one capable of maintaining peace and prosperity in the country, which is burdened by numerous economic sanctions, especially imposed by the United States, which are, according to the president, to blame for the crisis in the Caribbean nation.
Starting on January 10, the date on which the new mandate begins, the president will face a third six-year term at the head of the country, governed by Chavismo for 25 years.
*With information from EFE.
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