Nicolás Maduro has been re-elected for a third term as President of Venezuela, securing 51.2% of the vote in Sunday’s presidential election. The announcement came from Elvis Amoroso, the president of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, just after midnight on July 29. With 80% of the ballots counted, Amoroso indicated an irreversible trend towards a Maduro victory. Voter turnout was reported at 59%. Edmundo González, the leading opposition candidate, received 44% of the vote.
Supporters gathered at the Miraflores Presidential Palace on Sunday evening to celebrate both the election results and the birthday of Hugo Chávez, the father of the Bolivarian Revolution. Addressing the crowd, Maduro declared, “I am Nicolás Maduro Moros, re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela,” and promised “peace, stability, and justice.”
Both Amoroso and Maduro mentioned an attempted hacker attack on the electoral system, with Maduro asserting that the Attorney General’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office would investigate the source.
In his victory speech, Maduro thanked the various sectors that supported his re-election under the Great Patriotic Pole alliance and emphasized his priorities: advancing economic recovery, strengthening social projects, fostering national dialogue, and continuing the fight against the US and EU sanctions through the Anti-Blockade Law.
Despite the official results, the far-right opposition, led by Edmundo González and María Corina Machado, refused to acknowledge Maduro’s victory. Machado claimed that González won with 70% of the votes compared to Maduro’s 30%, based on independent counts. She urged her supporters to mobilize in defense of their perceived victory.
The US government expressed serious concerns about the announced results, calling for a recount and public release of the ballots. The US Embassy, operating out of Bogotá, Colombia, stated that the results did not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.
In contrast, many Latin American and Caribbean leaders congratulated Maduro. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel, Bolivian President Luis Arce, Honduran President Xiomara Castro, and the Iranian Embassy in Venezuela all issued statements celebrating Maduro’s re-election and the democratic process.
The international response highlights the deep divisions over Venezuela’s political future, with Maduro’s supporters celebrating his continued leadership and his opponents challenging the legitimacy of the election process.
