The electoral commission in Venezuela announced that "President Nicolas Maduro won a third term in the presidential elections held yesterday, Sunday." It clarified that Maduro received 51 percent of the votes after counting 80 percent of the ballots. Maduro's victory came despite multiple opinion polls conducted after voters left the polling stations indicating a win for the opposition candidate. The commission added that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez received 44 percent of the votes, although the opposition previously stated they had reasons to "celebrate" and urged their supporters to continue monitoring the vote counting process. Gonzalez stated on X before the announcement of the results: "The results cannot be hidden. The country chose peaceful change."
The opposition refuses to acknowledge the results. Corina Machado, a leader of the Venezuelan opposition, indicated that "the team of presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez does not acknowledge his defeat in the elections." She said at a press conference: "We want to tell all Venezuelans and the whole world that Venezuela has a new elected president, and that is Edmundo Gonzalez."
