July 29, 2024 – 08:16
Current Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro celebrates after being re-elected as president with 51 percent of the vote in Caracas – Photo: Fernando Vergara/MTI/AP
Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro beat opposition candidate Gonzalez Urrutia by more than 600,000 votes in Sunday's election, MTI reported. According to unofficial results released when 80 percent of the votes were counted for Maduro, who received 51 percent, a total of 5.15 million people voted, with 59 percent of eligible voters taking part, meaning the incumbent president could begin his third term.
The result was a surprise because many opinion polls had previously predicted that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia would win. Despite the unofficial final result, the opposition said there was reason to celebrate and asked its supporters to continue monitoring the vote count.
“The results cannot be hidden. The country has chosen peaceful change,” the opposition candidate wrote in his post on social media portal X around 11 p.m. local time, before the results were announced.
In a statement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was imperative that all votes be counted fairly and transparently. He also called on the Venezuelan electoral commission to publish detailed counting data for the presidential election for transparency and accountability.
