Venezuela election results updates: Maduro declared winner in disputed vote

Read our full news story here. For a long-form feature on the rise of Maduro’s socialist government, check this out.

And reactions to Venezuela’s vote from allies and adversaries can be perused here.

We are going to bring our live coverage to an end soon. Here’s a summary of today’s main events:

• Venezuela’s electoral authority declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner of Sunday’s election with 51 percent of the vote against opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez’s 44 percent.
• The opposition not only disputes the official results but says Gonzalez won the election with 70 percent of the vote, adding it has the data to back it up.
• Barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addressed on social media Venezuela’s armed forces calling on them to stand “on the right side of history”.
• In controversial remarks, Maduro last week warned his supporters of a “bloodbath” and “fratricidal civil war” should he lose the vote.
• The UK is the latest country to cite “serious irregularities” in the vote-counting process and call for the publication of detailed results.
• US Vice President Kamala Harris offered her support for Venezuelans as the fallout from the disputed election plays out.

After a decade of economic disaster, many are disillusioned with the country’s socialist revolution.

But Venezuela’s electoral body has declared President Maduro the winner with 51 percent of the vote against 44 percent received by challenger Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

The opposition claims to have captured 70 percent of the ballots. It’s unclear where the country goes from here.

Maduro – appearing at the presidential palace before cheering supporters – said he will sign a decree on Monday to hold a “great national dialogue” after being declared the election winner.

The phrase “national dialogue” typically means conversations between the government and the opposition, businesses, communities and others. But it remains unclear if the president can find common ground with the opposition after it alleged vote fraud and claimed it won the election in a landslide.

An exit poll from Edison Research predicted challenger Edmundo Gonzalez would win 65 percent of the vote, while Maduro would take 31 percent.

Local firm Meganalisis predicted a 65 percent vote for Gonzalez and below 14 percent for Maduro.

The news of Maduro’s victory was received with disbelief by some, especially among the millions of people who fled Venezuela because of the country’s dire economic crisis in recent years.

“We’ve fought against this dictatorship for 25 years,” said Luigi de Barreto, a Venezuelan migrant now living in Mexico. “We demand the international community to act. Today we want Venezuela to be free and respect the people’s decision.”

More than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, marking one of the largest displacement crises in the world. People continue to leave at an average of 2,000 per day, according to the UN refugee agency.

Challenger Edmundo Gonzalez says he’s not calling for supporters to take to the streets or commit any acts of violence after the disputed election with Maduro announced the victor.

Barred opposition leader Maria Corina Machado – after noting early voting gains on Sunday – directed a social media post at Venezuela’s armed forces.

“A message for the military. The people of Venezuela have spoken: they don’t want Maduro,” she said on X. “It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it’s now.”

Maduro later said, “No one is going to create chaos in Venezuela.”

Last week, the president told a rally of supporters: “If you don’t want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, because of the fascists, let’s ensure the greatest success, the greatest victory in the electoral history of our people.”

The UK’s Foreign Office says it’s concerned over “serious irregularities” in the electoral counting process of the Venezuelan election and called for the publication of detailed results.

“We call for the swift and transparent publication of full, detailed results to ensure that the outcome reflects the votes of the Venezuelan people.”

We are concerned by allegations of serious irregularities in the counting and declared results of Sunday's presidential election in Venezuela.

We call for the swift and transparent publication of full, detailed results to ensure that the outcome reflects the votes of the…

— Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (@FCDOGovUK) July 29, 2024

It’s being called the most consequential election in Venezuela in a generation. The challenge is the biggest the country’s socialist government has faced in 25 years.

The opposition is claiming an overwhelming victory, but the electoral commission announced President Nicolas Maduro’s re-election.

So what happens now?

The US vice president offered her support for Venezuelans as the fallout from the disputed election plays out.

“The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election,” Harris said. “The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”

The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure…

— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 28, 2024

In Venezuela, both Nicolas Maduro and the main opposition leaders have claimed victory in presidential elections. Here are the latest updates:

• Elvis Amoroso, head of the National Electoral Council and an ally of Maduro, said the president secured 51 percent of the vote with challenger Edmundo Gonzalez taking 44 percent.
• However, the electoral body has yet to release official voting tallies from 30,000 polling centres, hampering the opposition’s ability to verify the results.
• Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was barred from running for office, disputed the results saying Gonzalez won 70 percent of the vote.
• Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States has “serious concerns” that the result “announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people”.
• Maduro said the voting system “suffered cyberattacks, we suffered massive hacking. We know which country is behind it but I won’t mention it”.
• A number of other countries demanded the release of official vote data, including Spain, Italy, Chile, Argentina and Colombia. Welcoming the results were China, Russia, Cuba, Bolivia and Honduras, among others.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Maduro on his re-election as president of Venezuela.

“Russian-Venezuelan relations have the character of a strategic partnership. I am confident that your work at the head of state will continue to contribute to their progressive development in all areas … Remember that you are always welcome on Russian soil,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin.

The Russian leader’s comments are in stark contrast with the US, the EU, and some Latin American countries that expressed doubt over the transparency of the electoral process after the electoral council announced Maduro’s victory.

Many Maduro supporters speak enthusiastically of Hugo Chavez and see Nicolas Maduro, in power since his mentor’s death from cancer in 2013, as a continuation of his legacy of helping the poor.

“There are things that without doubt need to improve in our country, but this government has lived through sanctions and blockades like no other. That’s why I back President Maduro and think he deserves another chance,” said Jose Lopez, 57.

Maduro has struggled to muster the popularity of his predecessor. In the 2013 special election, he barely eked out a victory over an opposition candidate that Chavez had trounced just one year earlier.

Read the full story here.

On the streets of Caracas, a mix of anger, tears and loud pot-banging greeted the announcement of results by the National Electoral Council.

“This isn’t possible. This is a humiliation,” says Ayari Padron, wiping away tears.

Voters lined up before dawn to cast ballots on Sunday, boosting the opposition’s hopes it was about to break Maduro’s grip on power.

The official results came as a shock to opposition members who had celebrated, online and outside a few voting centres, what they believed was a landslide victory for Edmundo Gonzalez.

Beijing congratulated President Maduro and Venezuela for “smoothly holding its presidential election”.

“China stands ready to enrich our all-weather strategic partnership and better benefit the peoples of both countries. China and Venezuela are good friends and partners who support each other,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular briefing.

Beijing is Venezuela’s main creditor and has close ties with the diplomatically isolated, inflation-ravaged socialist nation. Maduro visited China in September, meeting President Xi Jinping and declaring the “historic” visit was aimed at “strengthening cooperation and the construction of a new world order”.

Venezuela’s opposition coalition insists it garnered 70 percent of the vote, rejecting the figures from Maduro’s loyalist electoral authority.

“We won and the whole world knows it,” said opposition leader Marina Corina Machado, rejecting President Nicolas Maduro’s victory.

Watch her speech here:

Javier Farje, a former election monitor, says the number of people who voted suggests the opposition could have won the elections.

“Neither the government or the opposition have shown concrete evidence about their figures, but the high turnout should have meant that the opposition had a good chance to win. Why? Because in the past the opposition would either boycott the elections – thinking they were not transparent – or people would not even bother because they thought the result was a foregone conclusion,” Farje told Al Jazeera.

“This time there was a massive [turnout]… People were cueing on Saturday night, sleeping in the street to make sure they would have voted against Maduro. So the high turnout should have benefitted the opposition,” Farje said.

“But it turns out, according to the electoral commission, that this has not been the case and that is why many people have doubts.”

Colombia Foreign Minister Luis Gilberto Murillo pressed authorities to ensure there’s transparency in the election results to quickly verify the disputed outcome.

“After maintaining permanent contact with all political actors involved in the presidential elections … we consider it essential that the voices of all sectors be heard,” said Murillo.

“It is important to clear any doubts about the results… We call for the total vote count, its verification, and independent audit to be carried out as soon as possible.”

President Gustavo Petro has criticised the disqualification of opposition leader Maria Corina Machado from the race, saying he experienced the same during Colombia elections and called it an “anti-democratic coup”.

Petro dejó claro que lo que ocurre en Venezuela con la inhabilitación de María Corina Machado quién aspira a ser presidente en el país hermano es un “golpe antidemocrático”. 🇨🇴🇻🇪 pic.twitter.com/qgTUOuWrC8

— Entérate Cali – Noticias Cali (@EnterateCali) April 2, 2024

Javier Farje, a Latin American historian and former electoral observer in Venezuela, says the opposition will count on the international community’s support in disputing the vote results.

“The opposition will demand that international observers have access to the vote, and secondly they will demand the international community to not recognise Maduro’s victory,” Farje told Al Jazeera.

“Eight countries in Latin America have demanded a fair count of the vote, which means they don’t trust the figure given by the electoral commission,” he said, noting the US and the EU have expressed doubts, too, on the transparency of the process.

“There will be a showdown and the opposition will count on the international community’s support in demanding transparency in this election.”