Biden-Harris official, other international leaders question results of Venezuelan election after Maduro declared winner

Even though official tallies from all 15,000 voting stations in Venezuela have yet to be released, Nicolás Maduro, the socialist president of Venezuela, has been declared the winner of this weekend's election, prompting international leaders — including the secretary of state in the Biden-Harris administration — to question the results.

On Saturday, Venezuelans began gathering in long lines, waiting for the chance to cast their votes for their nation's next president sometime on Sunday. They had two options: Maduro, who came into power in 2013 following the death of socialist dictator Hugo Chávez, and Edmundo González Urrutia, a 74-year-old political neophyte who became the opposition leader after María Corina Machado was disqualified from running a year ago "for being involved ... in the corruption plot orchestrated by the usurper Juan Guaido."

Guaido ran against Maduro in the 2018 presidential election and was even recognized as the winner by several foreign leaders, though Maduro was ultimately declared the official winner.

'Look at what happens when c*mmunism takes hold. This is what Kamala wants. She must be stopped!'

The results of the 2024 election began to be tallied on Sunday evening, and Urrutia and his supporters were encouraged when early returns suggested a landslide victory. According to Machado, the tallies she and her group viewed — representing about 40% of the total vote — showed Urrutia with "70% of the votes in this election, and Maduro 30%."

Later that night, Venezuelan authorities reportedly stopped sharing the official results with the opposition, and workers still had not closed the polls an hour after the scheduled closing time.

Then, just after midnight, the reportedly Maduro-friendly National Electoral Council announced that, with 80% of the votes tabulated, Maduro held an insurmountable lead over Urrutia, 51.2% to 44.2%. The president of the Council, whom El País described as "a personal friend of Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores," called the results "irreversible."

"I can say before the world that I am the re-elected president of Venezuela," Maduro said from Miraflores Palace, the seat of the Venezuelan government.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel soon congratulated his "brother" Maduro. "Today the dignity and courage of the Venezuelan people triumphed over pressure and manipulation," Díaz-Canel posted to X at 12:19 a.m.

Russian President Vladimir Putin also extended a congratulatory message, claiming that Maduro is "always a welcome guest on Russian soil."

Other foreign leaders, however, are troubled by the secretive nature of the vote-counting process.

Rodrigo Chaves Robles, the president of Costa Rica, slammed the results of the election as "fraudulent" and "categorically reputiate[d]" them. "We will work with democratic governments of the continent and international organizations to ensure that the sacred will of the Venezuelan people is respected," Robles said.

Chile’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Alberto van Klaveren said his country "will refrain from recognizing any result" until a thorough "examination of all the minutes" has been conducted and "the opinion of international observers" has been publicly shared. Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, likewise demanded "total transparency" regarding the election results.

Argentina President Javier Milei called Maduro a "sociopath" and a "dictator."

Even Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state in the Biden-Harris administration, has expressed "serious concerns" about Maduro's supposed victory. "We have seen the announcement just a short while ago by the Venezuelan Electoral Commission," Blinken said in a statement while visiting Tokyo. "We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people."

Hours before the Venezuelan polls closed, likely Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris tweeted: "The United States stands with the people of Venezuela who expressed their voice in today’s historic presidential election. The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected. Despite the many challenges, we will continue to work toward a more democratic, prosperous, and secure future for the people of Venezuela."

As might be expected, X users took Harris to task in the comments:

• "Look at what happens when c*mmunism takes hold. This is what Kamala wants. She must be stopped!" said one popular comment.
• "The US will become Venezuela if trump is not elected," added another.
• "Commie-la Harris is America’s Hugo Chavez. She wants to take America down the same road," quipped yet another.

For now, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado still considers Urrutia the true winner. "Venezuela has a new president-elect and he is Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. We won! And everybody knows it. I want you to know that this has been something so overwhelming and great that we have won in all sectors of the country," she said.

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