Venezuela

Katarina Hall | 7.29.2024 1:22 PM

The government-controlled electoral authority has declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of Venezuela's presidential election, securing his third consecutive six-year term. But the opposition is crying foul, contending that the authoritarian socialist did not, in fact, receive the most votes.

With 80 percent of the ballots counted, the National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Monday that Maduro had won 51 percent of the vote while opposition candidate Edmundo González, of the Democratic Unitary Platform, garnered 44 percent.

In his victory speech, Maduro described the results as "a triumph of peace and stability, republican ideals, and the ideas of equality."

But the electoral authority has yet to release the official voting tallies from polling centers. Maduro claims this delay was caused by an unnamed country hacking into the electoral council's system. "The demons and the devils did not want the total to be counted," the Venezuelan leader declared in a statement.

González has countered that the election results are fraudulent, and his party is demanding that the electoral........

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