Italy joins U.S. in recognizing Venezuelan opposition candidate as 'president-elect'

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday recognized Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia as the president-elect of the country, a day after the United States officially did the same.

Meloni spoke after a meeting with Argentina's President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires.

"Together with the European Union, we are working for a peaceful and democratic transition in Venezuela so that the preference expressed by the Venezuelan people for president-elect Gonzalez Urrutia, and their legitimate aspirations of freedom and democracy, can finally become reality," said Meloni.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken prompted a furious reaction from Caracas Tuesday when he, too, used the term "president-elect" for the first time to refer to Gonzalez Urrutia.

Venezuela's incumbent President Nicolas Maduro insists he had won July elections despite the opposition saying it can provide proof of its victory in the form of a vote breakdown.

Election authorities have declined to release their own detailed vote count despite domestic and international pressure.

Only a handful of countries, including Venezuela ally Russia, have recognized Maduro's victory claim.

He is accused of leading a harshly repressive leftist regime, with a systematic crackdown on the opposition.

Far-right Meloni has twice received Edmundo Gonzalez in Italy, and self-declared "anarcho-capitalist" Milei has also recognized him as the election victor.

The Italian and Argentine leaders -- both fans of US President-elect Donald Trump -- met after this week's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, and vowed to build "a special relationship."

Milei, for his part, reiterated his call for the creation of an "alliance of free nations" including the United States, Argentina, Italy and Israel.

Last week, he had said the members of such an alliance would be the "custodians of the Western legacy," threatened by "the cultural hegemony of the left."