Outgoing President Nicolas Maduro has been re-elected for a third term as Venezuela’s leader, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Sunday evening, at the end of a campaign in which the opposition denounced intimidation and fears of fraud.
Nicolas Maduro, heir to former President Hugo Chavez (1999-2013), won 5.15 million votes, ahead of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, with just under 4.5 million (44.2%), according to official figures announced by CNE President Elvis Amoroso, after 80% of the ballots had been counted and a turnout of 59%. The result is “irreversible,” he said.
Greeted by a small fireworks display, Maduro stepped out onto a stage at the presidential palace in Caracas to celebrate his victory with his supporters chanting “Vamos Nico.”
Despite polls giving the candidate Mr Gonzalez Urrutia a clear victory, Nicolas Maduro, who relies on the military, has always appeared sure of his victory despite an unprecedented economic crisis.
A country drained of blood
The oil country, long one of the richest in Latin America, is bled dry, mired in an unprecedented economic and social crisis: collapse of oil production, GDP reduced by 80% in ten years, poverty and totally dilapidated health and education systems. Seven million Venezuelans have fled the country.
The opposition, which had hoped to end 25 years of Chavista rule, was nevertheless confident. “The results cannot be hidden. The country has chosen a change in peace,” wrote Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia on X.
Shortly before midnight, Omar Barboza, an opposition leader, protested against a possible “misstep” or “authoritarian haste” by the government, asking it to respect the result “in the name of peace”. “The minutes only confirm what we saw in the streets. The projection of their content clearly gives a result that should not be doubted.”
