Two candidates are claiming victory in Venezuela's hotly contested presidential election

The two leading candidates in Venezuela's 2024 presidential election claimed victory on Sunday amid national and international concern that the process may have been rigged, according to multiple reports.

Incumbent President Nicolás Maduro, widely considered a dictator and deeply unpopular among Venezuelans, won 51% of the vote on Sunday, while his opponent, Edmundo González, got just 44% of the vote, the Council said National Electoral (NCE). , CNN reported. But Maduro's opposition claimed independent polls showed Gonzalez actually won 70 percent of the vote, beating Maduro in a landslide victory.

“We won, and everyone knows it,” opposition leader Maria Corina told reporters, according to CNN. “The whole international community knows what happened in Venezuela and how the people voted for change.”

Protests almost immediately erupted in Venezuela in retaliation for Maduro's dubious claim to victory. Some members of the international community immediately questioned the legitimacy of the election results and called for political transparency.

“We saw the announcement recently from the Venezuelan electoral commission. We are seriously concerned that the announced result does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. said during a press conference on Sunday, according to Reuters.

“STRONG, MATURE, DICTATOR!!!” The Argentine president, Javier Milei he wrote in a social media post on Sunday, com translated from The Guardian. “Venezuelan people chose to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. The data shows an overwhelming victory for the opposition and the world is waiting for the defeat of years of socialism, misery, decay and death to be recognised.

Maduro, a socialist, was first elected to office in 2013, and Venezuela economy went into a sharp decline after his rise to power. Severe and widespread poverty and lack of access to basic goods have driven millions of Venezuelans to flee the country over the past decade.

After Maduro was elected, the US began imposing sanctions on the country's government, seconds to the Congressional Research Service.

Maduro's re-election in 2018 was deemed fraudulent, prompting condemnation from the United States, seconds in the Guardian The Biden administration lifted some penalties against Venezuela in 2023 in exchange for the promise of free and fair elections this year, but reimposed sanctions in April after raising concerns that little had changed.

Maduro claimed that foreign actors had tried to disrupt Sunday's election.

“It is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he told a small gathering of supporters outside the presidential palace on Sunday, but did not provide evidence for his claims, according to the AP.

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