World leaders cast doubt on Maduro’s claim of victory in Venezuelan election

Some Latin American countries — including Colombia, which has friendly ties to Maduro — also expressed skepticism of the results, as did Spain, Italy and other European nations. Russia, China, Iran and Cuba were among those to congratulate Maduro.

Venezuela’s pro-government electoral council said early Monday after partial results that Maduro won 51 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo González’s 44 percent, despite independent polling suggesting that González won twice as many votes as Maduro. An authoritarian socialist, Maduro has been in power since 2013, and many blame him for the oil-rich country’s economic collapse and the exodus of millions of citizens, including hundreds of thousands who have fled to the United States.

González also claimed victory late Sunday, saying: “The results are undeniable. The country elected a peaceful change.”

“What has happened in our country is a huge social movement that they will not stop,” María Corina Machado, the driving force behind the Venezuelan opposition campaign, said during a news conference early Monday. “We are a civic peaceful movement, and that’s how we will keep working until we make the truth prevail, and it will prevail.”

In the run-up to the election, Maduro’s government barred Machado — Venezuela’s most popular politician — from running, arrested campaign workers and denied the opposition access to state media. On Sunday, there were reports of blocked entry, delays and violence at some voting centers.

Maduro’s claim to victory in Sunday’s election threatens to further isolate him on the world stage. In 2018, Maduro claimed victory amid charges of irregularities, prompting global condemnation and mass protests in the country.

In a statement early Monday, Maduro claimed without evidence that the electoral council had been hacked from an unnamed country, causing a delay in the publication of the full results of Sunday’s election. “The demons and the devils did not want the total to be counted,” Maduro said.

Latin American leaders across the political spectrum cast doubt on the results.

Colombia’s foreign minister, Luis Gilberto Murillo, called for an independent verification and audit of the vote count “as soon as possible.”

Left-of-center Chilean President Gabriel Boric described the official results as “difficult to believe,” demanding that independent international observers be given access to the full results. “From Chile, we will not recognize any result that is not verifiable,” he wrote on X early Monday.

On the other end of the political spectrum, Argentine President Javier Milei also said he would not recognize a “fraud,” posting on X that “Venezuelans chose to end the communist dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro.” The far-right South American leader called on Venezuela’s armed forces to “defend democracy and the popular will.”

Peruvian Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea accused Maduro’s regime of having the “intention of fraud” and recalled Peru’s ambassador to Venezuela for consultations. “Peru will not accept the violation of the popular will of the Venezuelan people,” he said on X.

Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay also issued calls for a transparent count of the votes by independent observers.

Meanwhile, Russia, China, Iran, Cuba, Bolivia and Honduras — all allies of Venezuela — dispatched messages congratulating Maduro on the announced election result.

After the Russian ambassador to Caracas described the electoral council’s vote tally as “credible,” President Vladimir Putin congratulated Maduro. “Remember that you are always a welcome guest on Russian soil,” Putin said in a message to Maduro.

China’s Foreign Ministry congratulated Maduro and Venezuela for a “successful” election. “China and Venezuela are good friends and partners who support each other,” Chinese state media quoted ministry spokesman Lin Jian saying at a news conference.

Cuba’s Foreign Ministry said Raúl Castro, the country’s former communist leader and younger brother of the late Fidel Castro, called Maduro to congratulate him.

At one voting center in the Chacao neighborhood of Caracas on Sunday, voters waited in line for more than six hours to cast their ballots, breaking into chants of “We want to vote!” A Washington Post reporter saw a gang of hooded Maduro supporters punching and kicking people outside a polling center in Caracas who had complained about being denied access to a vote count.

Edison Research, a N.J.-based firm, interviewed more than 6,800 voters at 100 locations in exit polling after voting centers began to close Sunday. It found that González outpolled Maduro among men and women, rural, suburban and urban voters, and every age group.

Sands reported from London. Christian Shepherd in Taipei, Taiwan, and Natalia Abbakumova in Riga, Latvia, contributed to this report.