US State Department Almost Disclaimers Election Results in Venezuela

Venezuela’s Central Election Commission has counted Nicolás Maduro as the winner.

The opposition has claimed that their candidate, Edmundo González Urrutia, has won.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken interrupted his speech at the Indo-Pacific Nations meeting when the data came in from Caracas. Venezuela’s Central Election Commission has declared that incumbent President Nicolás Maduro won with 51% of the vote on Sunday, July 28, 2024. The opposition points to exit polls that showed opposition leader Edmundo González receiving up to 65% of the vote.

In his statement, Antony Blinken said: “We applaud the people of Venezuela for participating in the 2024 presidential election, and we admire their courage and commitment to democracy in the face of repression and adversity. We have just seen the announcement from the Venezuelan Electoral Commission. We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the voice of the Venezuelan people… The international community is closely monitoring the election and will respond accordingly… It is critical that every vote is counted fairly and transparently, that election officials share information promptly and without delay with the opposition and election monitors, and that election authorities publish detailed vote counts.”

This is not yet a complete rejection of the election results and Maduro as the leader of Venezuela, but it is very close. However, in 2018, the United States also did not recognize the elections that Maduro won. Sanctions were then imposed on Caracas, later relaxed to allow the purchase of Venezuelan oil, and then tightened again.