"We won with 70%"says opposition leader as she rejects Maduro’s reelection

The opposition leader Maria Corina Machado claimed the victory of her candidate Edmundo González Urrutia in the presidential elections in Venezuela on Sunday, after the electoral authority declared President Nicolás Maduro the winner.

“We won and everyone knows it”Machado said at a press conference. “We want to tell all of Venezuela and the world that Venezuela has a new president-elect and it is Edmundo González Urrutia (…). González Urrutia obtained 70% of the votes and Nicolás Maduro 30%. This is the truth,” he said.

Venezuelan leftist President Nicolas Maduro has been re-elected for a third consecutive six-year term, the electoral authority announced after an election that According to the opposition, they were riddled with irregularities.

After 25 years of Chavismo in Venezuela, Maduro, 61 years old and in power since 2013, received 5.15 million votes (51.2%)according to the first official bulletin with 80% of the vote counted. He beat the opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who obtained 4.45 million votes (44.2%).

Maduro thus projects himself to remain in power for 18 years, until 2031. Only the dictator Juan Vicente Gómez will have governed longer than him, with 27 years (1908-1935).