Jannatul Fardous
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has won a third term with 51 per cent of the vote, the country’s electoral authority said just after midnight on Monday, despite multiple exit polls which pointed to an opposition win.
The authority said opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 44 per cent of the vote, though the opposition had earlier said it had “reasons to celebrate” and asked supporters to continue monitoring vote counts.
Appearing before jubilant supporters at the presidential palace, Maduro reaffirmed his claim made throughout the campaign trail that Venezuela’s election process is transparent and described his reelection as a victory of peace and stability.
Edison Research, which is recognized for polling US elections, predicted in an exit poll that Gonzalez would win 65% of the vote and Maduro would win 31%.
Meganalisis, a local business, estimated a 65 percent support for Gonzalez and somewhat less than 14 percent for Maduro.
Approximately 80% of vote boxes have been counted, according to national electoral council (CNE) head Elvis Amoroso in a televised address, with results delayed due to a “aggression” against the electoral data transmission infrastructure.
The CNE has requested the attorney general to look into the “terrorist actions,” Amoroso said, adding that participation was 59%.
The opposition had earlier claimed that voters had chosen a change after 25 years of socialist party rule.
“The outcomes can’t be hidden. “The country has peacefully chosen a change,” Gonzalez said in a post on X about 11 p.m. local time, before the results were released.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado renewed her request for the military to enforce the election results.
“A message to the military.” “The people of Venezuela have spoken: they do not want Maduro,” she stated earlier on X. “It is time to position yourself on the right side of history. “You have a chance, and it is now.”
Venezuela’s military has always supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that leaders of the armed forces are breaking from the government.
