Venezuelan elections: Maduro secures third presidential term

The Venezuelan National Electoral Council announced shortly after midnight (local time) that President Nicolás Maduro had been re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term, receiving over 51% of the votes. This result came despite pre-election polls suggesting that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia was on track to win.

With 80% of the ballots counted, Maduro had secured 51.20% of the votes, while Gonzalez Urrutia had 44.2%.

The opposition, however, rejects the election results and insists it has every reason to “celebrate.” They have urged their supporters to remain at the polling stations to ensure transparency and integrity in the vote-counting process.

Following Chávez’s death in 2013, Maduro succeeded him and won the presidency as the candidate of the United Socialist Party.

According to The Guardian, independent observers have described the elections as the most arbitrary in recent years. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concerns” about the results, while the President of Chile commented that the outcome is “hard to believe.”

In contrast, governments allied with Maduro, such as those of Cuba and Bolivia, were quick to congratulate him on his victory.

Maduro dedicated his win to his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who appointed him as his successor shortly before he died in 2013