Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday appeared to have secured another term in office, gaining 51 per cent of the vote, with opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia winning 44 per cent.
But the opposition coalition has called the results rigged, with leading opposition figure Maria Corina Machado – who was barred from running in the election – saying Mr Gonzalez Urrutia had in fact secured 70 per cent of the vote.
Volunteers with the Citizen Encounter Party, a key part of the opposition coalition, had been monitoring voting centres across the country throughout the day. The party reported that the electoral commission had stopped sending votes from up to 30,000 polling stations to a central counting authority with the aim of obstructing the election.
Speaking to the media after the results were announced, Mr Gonzalez Urrutia, a soft-spoken former diplomat who was thrust into the political limelight this election cycle when Ms Corina Machado was blocked from the ballot, said: “Our fight continues. We will not rest until the will of the Venezuelan people is respected.”
Following the announcement, hundreds took to the streets of Caracas and other large cities to protest against the results.
Mr Maduro has been in power for about a decade, taking over from socialist leader Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013.
Under Mr Chavez, Venezuela prospered for several years due primarily to the high price of oil – on which its economy principally depended – but the country witnessed a democratic backslide, with press freedoms suppressed, electoral laws changed and government critics jailed.
When oil prices dropped in 2014, Venezuela's economy slid into chaos, with the currency becoming essentially worthless and inflation reaching a global high, as poverty, scarcity and violence skyrocketed.
In addition, Venezuela has been the target of numerous US sanctions that have been strengthened throughout Mr Maduro's time in office.
The years under Mr Maduro have been turbulent ones – from the shuttering of the opposition-controlled National Assembly to a coup attempt to millions leaving the country in pursuit of better opportunities.
Despite international criticism over his second presidential win in 2018, Mr Maduro has maintained that he has the backing of the people, though both the opposition and observers have said that he and his party have used intimidation, vote tampering and other tactics to remain in power.
There was hope, however, that these elections would be different. The US had in October eased sanctions on Venezuela's oil and gas industry to incentivise the Maduro government to hold free and fair elections.
But Mr Maduro failed to meet these commitments, according to the US government, and the licence allowing for an easing of sanctions was allowed to expire.
In addition to the forced absence from the ballot of Ms Corina Machado - who swept the opposition primaries with about 90 per cent of the vote - more than 130 opposition backers have been arrested since January, AFP reported. Most have been released but dozens are still being held.
Mr Maduro said he would guarantee peace and economic growth if he returned to power, making Venezuela less dependent on oil income, but on the campaign trail, he vowed there would be a “bloodbath” if he was not re-elected.
After the results were announced, Mr Maduro announced that there had been a “massive hack” of the electoral commission's transmission system. The country's public prosecutor has accused Ms Corina Machado and the opposition of election sabotage.
Several regional and international leaders have voiced their concerns over the elections.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed “serious concerns” that the results do not reflect the will of the Venezuelan people.
“It's critical that every vote is counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and electoral observers without delay and that the electoral authorities publish detailed tabulation of votes,” Mr Blinken said, noting that the international community was watching closely and would respond accordingly.
Chile's President Gabriel Boric said the results were “hard to believe”, while Uruguay's President Luis Lacalle Pou called the election “clearly flawed”. Peru has recalled its ambassador and Ecuador's Foreign Ministry rejected the “lack of transparency”.
Many neighbouring countries are likely to be concerned over the possibility of enhanced political turmoil in Venezuela, as roughly a third of the population has left the country, fleeing to other parts of the region, including the US.
The flow of migrants has placed great strain on South American countries that were already dealing with high levels of poverty, and Venezuelans now face growing hostility in their new homes.
A lack of full transparency over the elections from Caracas is also likely to lead to the continuation of US sanctions on Venezuela and the potential introduction of new ones, further hamstringing the country's economy.
The US will continue to assess its sections policy towards Venezuela, senior administration officials said on a call on Monday.
“Our concern here is that last night, the National Electoral Council of Venezuela announced a result, but that does not track with data that we have received through account mechanisms and other sources, which suggests that the result that was announced may be at odds with how people voted, and so that is the principal source of our concern,” one of the officials said.
