VENEZUELA-Maduro Claims Win Amid Opposition Fraud Claims

Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro appears to have won re-election for another six-year term. According to the National Electoral Council (CNE), with 80% of ballots counted the president has secured 51% of the vote to 44% for opposition candidate Edmundo González. The opposition Unity Platform has cried foul, claiming that according to tallies that it has seen and quick counts, González leads with 70% support.

• Opposition figurehead María Corina Machado said following the result being broadcast that “We won and the whole world knows it,” Speaking in Japan at a Quad foreign ministers' meeting, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US has “serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people”. Leaders from Europe and Latin America from across the political spectrum have voiced their concern at the apparent fradulent nature of the vote.
• As The Daily Telegraph reports, "Further doubts over the legitimacy of the election were sowed when official election results showed the total vote amounted to 132.2 per cent, with eight opposition parties gaining exactly 4.6 per cent of the vote each. Another official count broadcast on state TV recorded 109 per cent of votes cast."
• Short-term focus will sit on whether Maduro can retain power in the face of international condemnation and the opposition casting doubts on the outcome. Over the longer term should Maduro remain in office despite his apparent loss, there is the likelihood that US sanctions will remain in place, or be made more severe.