Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been re-elected for a third term, the country's electoral authority announced on Sunday, as the United States expressed “serious concerns” about the electoral process.
The authority said Maduro obtained 51.2% of the votes while opposition candidate Edmundo González received 44%.
Appearing before his supporters at the presidential palace, Maduro said his re-election was a triumph for peace and stability and reiterated his campaign claim that Venezuela's electoral system was transparent.
A poll by Edison Research, known for its surveys of U.S. elections, had predicted in an exit poll that Gonzalez would win 65 percent of the vote, while Maduro would win 31 percent.
Local firm Meganalisis predicted 65% of the votes for González and just under 14% for Maduro.
About 80% of ballot boxes have been counted, National Electoral Council (CNE) president Elvis Amoroso said in a televised statement, adding that results had been delayed because of an “attack” on the electoral data transmission system.
The CNE asked the Attorney General's Office to investigate the “terrorist actions,” Amoroso said, adding that participation was 59%.
The opposition had previously said voters had chosen change after 25 years of Socialist Party rule.
“The results cannot be hidden. The country has peacefully chosen change,” Gonzalez said in a post on X at around 11 p.m. local time, before the results were announced.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado reiterated her call to the country's military to defend the results of the vote.
“A message to the military. The people of Venezuela have spoken: they do not want Maduro,” he previously said on X. “It's time to get on the right side of history. You have one chance and it's now.”
Venezuela's military has long supported Maduro, a 61-year-old former bus driver and foreign minister, and there have been no public signs that armed forces leaders are breaking away from the government.
'Serious concerns'
Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday expressed “serious concerns” about the outcome, saying the Venezuelan election result declaring Maduro the winner is not accurate.
“We have serious concerns that the announced result does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” Blinken said in Japan.
