THE Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro re-elected to office for third consecutive termensuring over the 51% of the vote, the national electoral council (CNE, the electoral commission) announced shortly after midnight (local time), even though exit polls indicated that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia was on his way to victory.

With 80% of the ballots counted, Mr Maduro secured 51.20% of the vote and Mr Gonzalez Urrutia around 44%, the CNE said, with the opposition alleging irregularities.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro declared after midnight on Sunday that his victory, his re-election to office for a third consecutive term, is a triumph of peace and democracy, reiterating the assurance that the Latin American state’s electoral system is transparent.

“We won” with “70% of the votes”, says the opposition

For its part, the opposition is also talking about victory. Earlier, she assured that she has every reason to “celebrate” the result, while she called on her supporters to remain at the polling stations, to guarantee the transparency and reliability of the counting.

The opposition in Venezuela considers that it prevailed in the presidential elections and assured that its candidate Edmundo González Urrutia received “70%” of the votes. He also refused to recognize the result announced by the National Electoral Council (CNE), in which outgoing President Nicolas Maduro was re-elected for a third consecutive term.

“We won” with “70% of the votes”, Venezuela “has a new elected president, and “this is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia”, the head of the opposition Maria Corina Machado told the press.

At the same time, he asked the armed forces to respect the results of the elections.

“Message to the Army. The Venezuelan people have spoken: they don’t want Maduro,” he argued earlier via X. “It’s time to stand on the right side of history. You have a chance, and it’s now.”

From her side the US government called to be done “fair and transparent counting”, with the head of American diplomacy, Anthony Blinken, requesting that the results be made public in detail, in the form of guarantees of transparency and accountability.

The US government “commends the Venezuelan people for participating in the July 28 presidential election, despite major challenges and deep concerns about the process,” Mr. Blinken said. “Now that the voting is over, it is vital that every vote is counted fairly and transparently,” added President Joe Biden’s Secretary of State.