Opposition Declares Victory After Maduro Declared Winner in Venezuela

Venezuela's opposition and President Nicolas Maduro's government were locked in a high-stakes standoff after each side claimed victory in Sunday's presidential vote, which millions in the long-suffering nation saw as their best shot to end 25 years of single-party rule, the AP reports. Several foreign governments, including the US, held off recognizing the results as election officials delayed releasing detailed vote tallies after proclaiming Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, to 44% for retired diplomat Edmundo González. "Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened," González said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Tokyo said the US has "serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people." Gabriel Boric, the leftist leader of Chile, said: "The Maduro regime should understand that the results it published are difficult to believe." Meanwhile, on the streets of Caracas, a mix of anger, tears, and loud pot banging greeted the announcement of results by the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council. Voters lined up before dawn to cast ballots Sunday, boosting the opposition's hopes it was about to break Maduro's grip on power. The result came as a shock to opposition members who had celebrated, online and outside a few voting centers, what they believed was a landslide victory for González.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of González's victory was "overwhelming," based on voting tallies the campaign received from representatives stationed at about 40% of ballot boxes. Authorities delayed releasing the results from each of the 30,000 polling booths nationwide, promising only to do so in the "coming hours," hampering attempts to verify the results. The delay in announcing a winner—which came 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. After finally claiming to have won, Maduro accused unidentified foreign enemies of trying to hack the voting system. (More Venezuela stories.)