Venezuela claims Maduro wins disputed election

Venezuela's election authority declared that Nicolas Maduro won a third six-year presidential term starting in 2025 but opposition leadership denounced widespread fraud.

Maduro won with 51.2pc of the vote which was tallied "after resolving an attack against the results transmission system," said Elvis Amoroso, president of Venezuela's administration-aligned national electoral council (CNE). CNE data indicated 44.2pc of the vote for his main rival Edmundo Gonzalez, who ran in the place of main opposition coalition leader Maria Corina Machado after Maduro's government blocked her from running.

The council said 80pc of the votes were counted, indicating an "irreversible" trend that would allow another six years in office for the government party that has ruled the country since 1999. The first data shown by CNE on live television late Sunday indicated voting shares that totaled 132pc, with eight opposition candidates other than Gonzalez each getting an identical 4.6pc of the vote.

CNE's final results contrasts with independent opinion polls and data from opposition observers that forecast a victory for Gonzalez. Machado said her team's review of voting data indicated a win for Gonzalez with 70pc of the vote compared with 30pc for Maduro, in line with results from independent opinion polls.

The US, which has implemented broad oil and mining sanctions on Venezuela on accusations of unfair elections and other issues, questioned the result.

"We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," US secretary of state Antony Blinken said. "The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly."

Machado's team denounced that it was denied access to the council's center to scrutinise data. Opposition leader Delsa Solorzano also said that witnesses had been kicked out of polling stations and denied required copies of vote tallies. Violence hit polling stations and at least two people were killed overnight after a relatively calm election day.

"All the international community, all, even those who once were [government] allies, they know what happened in Venezuela and how the people voted for a change," Machado said.

Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said his government would not recognise the outcome until the government investigates opposition claims. Leftist Chilean president Gabriel Boric said the CNE's results were "difficult to believe."

In a joint statement, the governments of Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also called on the government to respect its citizens' decision.

Maduro would continue the legacy of late former president Hugo Chavez, who died in office in 2013 after ushering in massive changes that have contributed to reducing the country's oil output to about 900,000 b/d to more than 3mn b/d at its peak.

By Isabella Reimi and Carlos Camacho