The U.S. has “serious concerns” about the results of the election in Venezuela, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, calling for a detailed tabulation of votes after Nicolás Maduro was reelected as the nation’s president for six more years.
“Now that the voting has concluded, it is vitally important that every vote is counted fairly and transparently,” Blinken said in a statement Monday during a visit to Japan for discussions.
“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” he later said in comments to reporters.
Maduro won Sunday’s election with 51.2% of the vote, compared with 44.2% for rival Edmundo González, the electoral center said. An exit poll conducted by U.S. firm Edison Research instead had González winning by more than 30 percentage points, lending to suspicions that Maduro’s administration had tampered with the tally.
“The United States applauds the Venezuelan people for their participation in the July 28 presidential election despite significant challenges and deep concerns about the process,” Blinken said in the statement. “Now that the voting has concluded, it is vitally important that every vote is counted fairly and transparently.”
Blinken said the world was watching the vote closely. Accusations of troubles at the ballot box that include suspected fraud have marred the country’s elections for years.
The international community has criticized Maduro for barring many opposition candidates from running in the vote, including former lawmaker and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. A clean election is a condition for the U.S. to remove sanctions on the Venezuelan oil industry.
Maduro will face the challenge of legitimizing the vote to his people and the rest of the world, given his government’s history of repression and fraudulent elections. González was running in the place of Machado, who experienced a meteoric rise in popularity even after the government banned her from seeking public office.
The Big Catch: Tacklebox is the hardest 3D platformer I've ever played, 8+ hours long, and a free to play 'prologue' to a bigger, better game on the way
The Case of the Golden Idol has done so well that it's getting a free definitive edition upgrade
Epic Boss Tim Sweeney says Unreal Engine 6 will be a 'metaverse' joining Fortnite and other Unreal games, including an upcoming 'persistent universe' in development with Disney
A Quake 2 Remaster dev has rebuilt the game's unique PlayStation port from scratch and released it as a free add-on
Карди Би высказалась по поводу пластической операции после родов: «Думайте головой»
«Человек поет такие песни! Вы бы никогда не подумали, что он такой козёл!» Певица Бьянка рассказала о домогательствах известного певца в студии «Шоу Воли» на ТНТ
Три концерта Мацуева отменены в Новосибирске из-за его болезни
Мариинский театр покажет грандиозную оперу «Война и мир» Сергея Прокофьева в постановке Андрея Кончаловского
