Several countries, including the United States and some Latin American nations, cast doubt on the results of Venezuela’s presidential election on Monday and called for transparency in vote-counting after President Nicolás Maduro’s electoral council declared him the winner.
Venezuela’s pro-government electoral council said early Monday after partial results that Maduro won 51 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo González’s 44 percent, despite independent polling suggesting that González won twice as many votes as Maduro.
Latin American leaders across the political spectrum cast doubt on the results.
Colombia’s foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, called for an independent verification and audit of the vote count “as soon as possible.”
Left-of-center Chilean President Gabriel Boric described the official results as “difficult to believe,” demanding that independent international observers be given access to the full results. “From Chile, we will not recognize any result that is not verifiable,” he wrote on X early Monday.
On the other end of the political spectrum, Argentine President Javier Milei also said he would not recognize a “fraud,” posting on X that “Venezuelans chose to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.” The far-right South American leader called on Venezuela’s armed forces to “defend democracy and the popular will.”
Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea accused Maduro’s regime of having the “intention of fraud” and recalled Peru’s ambassador to Venezuela for consultations. “Peru will not accept the violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people,” he said on X.
Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also issued calls for a transparent count of the votes by independent observers.
Meanwhile, Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Bolivia and Honduras — all allies of Venezuela — dispatched messages congratulating Maduro on the announced election result.
After the Russian ambassador to Caracas described the electoral council’s vote tally as “credible,” President Vladimir Putin congratulated Maduro. “Remember that you are always a welcome guest on Russian soil,” Putin said in a message to Maduro.
China’s Foreign Ministry congratulated Maduro and Venezuela for a “successful” election. “China and Venezuela are good friends and partners who support each other,” Chinese state media quoted ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying at a news conference.
Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said Raúl Castro, the country’s former communist leader and younger brother of the late Fidel Castro, called Maduro to congratulate him.
Edison Research, a N.J.-based firm, interviewed more than 6,800 voters at 100 locations in exit polling after voting centers began to close Sunday. It found that González outpolled Maduro among men and women, rural, suburban and urban voters, and every age group.
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