Venezuela's Election Authority Declares Maduro Victor in Disputed Election

The state-controlled electoral agency of Venezuela declared Maduro the winner of the presidential elections, although the opposition claims serious irregularities in the count.

The electoral agency claimed Nicolas Maduro won 51.2% of the vote in Venezuela's presidential elections, with opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez winning 44.2% of the vote.

Exit polls had pointed to a win for Gonzalez, with the opposition leader writing "The results are undeniable. The country chose a peaceful change," on X earlier today.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who tried to run for president but was banned from competing last year, wrote, as quoted by Reuters "A message for the military. The people of Venezuela have spoken: they don't want Maduro. It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it's now."

Nicolas Maduro has had the firm support of the Venezuelan military so far, which some observers argue is the main reason he is still in power.

Meanwhile, Machado called on Venezuelans to keep an eye on vote counting. "Venezuelans, this is until the end. That means all of us staying at the voting centers until the votes are counted and the minutes are obtained," she wrote on X.

Fair elections were the condition that the Biden administration attached to a deal with the Maduro government to lift sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry. Initially, Venezuela agreed to the deal but the disqualification of Maria Corina Machado from the election race was taken as a negative sign in Washington.

So far, some 80% of ballots have been counted, meaning the chance for a sudden and radical change in the results is increasingly unlikely. How the U.S. would react to these results is yet to be seen but it is quite unlikely the Biden admin would congratulate Maduro on his third win. Sanctions on Venezuela's oil, then, are likely to remain in place for the time being.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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