CNE confirms that Nicolás Maduro was reelected as president with 51.95% of the votes

Caracas, Aug 2 (EFE).- The National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela confirmed on Friday that the head of state, Nicolás Maduro, was re-elected in the presidential elections last Sunday with the 51.95% of the votes, compared to 43.18% of support obtained by the majority opposition candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, with 96.87% of the votes counted.

The president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, read this second bulletin – after the one presented on Sunday with 80% of the votes counted – without the institution having yet published the detailed results, as required by the established regulations, due to a “massive attack” on the system, which did not prevent the proclamation of Maduro as the winner.

According to this second balance, Maduro obtained 6,408,844 votes while Gonzalez Urrutia, abandoned of the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD), meeting 5,326,104, in a vote in which 59.97% of the electoral roll (12,386,669) participated, from which 0.41% was subtracted, which were considered invalid votes due to some anomaly in the process.

The president of the National Electoral Council, Elvis Amoroso, together with the electoral rector, Rosalba Gil, declare to the press the result of the bulletin of the presidential elections of July 28, 2024, this Friday in Caracas (Venezuela). EFE/ Ronald Peña R.

In third place was Deputy Luis Eduardo Martínez, supported by traditional parties that are under judicial intervention, who obtained 1.24% of the votes, while the other seven candidates came in below, as predicted by the pollsters, who gave this group of candidates no chance of victory.

Amoroso recalled that the CNE has suffered “massive cyber attacks from different parts of the world” that “delayed the transmission of the minutes and the process of disclosing the results,” a complaint that is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office, which accuses the anti-Chavez leader María Corina Machado and other opponents of this case.

This bulletin was released three days after the PUD published on a website “81%” of the electoral records that show, according to anti-Chavez supporters, that González Urrutia won the Presidency by a wide margin, which has been recognized by countries such as the United States, Argentina and Peru.

Following the fraud allegations, numerous protests broke out in Venezuela, resulting in 12 deaths – including one soldier – and more than 1,200 arrests. The government sees the situation as a coup d’état and has called on police and military forces to tighten control.

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