Criticism grows against Venezuelan President Maduro and the electoral commission that declared him the winner

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday, the day after election officials announced the results. He was declared the winner In a presidential election in which the opposition claims to have won a landslide victory.

Opposition leader Maria Corina MachadoStanding on a truck in the capital, Caracas, National Electoral CouncilIn the House of Councillors election, in which they are leaning towards the ruling party, they are calling on each party to make public the vote count results tallied at each polling station, asking “why aren't they being made public?”

Machado said his coalition had received more than 84 percent of the vote and he was confident the opposition candidate would win. Edmundo Gonzalez He was elected as the new president in Sunday's election.

“The only thing we are willing to negotiate is a peaceful transition of power,” Machado said, as the crowd chanted “We are not afraid!”

Machado and Gonzalez urged thousands of supporters, who protested across the country on Monday, to remain calm and avoid violence.

“And let's not forget the numbers: when the tally is counted, I will have more than eight million votes,” Gonzalez said, flanked by his wife and Machado, who has been banned from running for public office for 15 years. “We are going to start rebuilding Venezuela. Enough with the persecution.”

The Organization of American States condemned the Maduro regime's continuing crackdown on the opposition and slammed the National Electoral Commission for not releasing precinct-level results.

“The most despicable form of repression is to prevent the people from finding solutions through elections,” the group said in a statement. “The duty of Venezuelan institutions should be to ensure freedom, justice and transparency in the electoral process.”

The organization called an emergency meeting of its members and Venezuela elections, It even suggested a new vote should be held to resolve the widely differing results presented by electoral authorities and the opposition.Any rerun would need strong international oversight, it said.

Venezuela is The world's largest proven oil reserves, Once Latin America's most advanced economy, it has fallen into steep decline since Mr Maduro took power in 2013. Plummeting oil prices, widespread shortages and hyperinflation of more than 130,000 percent first sparked social unrest and then mass migration.

Refugee agency UNHCR estimates that more than 7.7 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014, the largest exodus in Latin America's recent history.

On Monday, thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets across the country to protest the election results announced by the electoral commission. During the marches, Gonzalez announced that his campaign had the evidence it needed to certify his victory.

“I speak the truth calmly,” Gonzalez said as dozens of supporters cheered outside his campaign headquarters in Caracas. “We have in our hands the tabulations that prove a decisive and mathematically irreversible victory.”

Protests in Caracas on Monday were largely peaceful, but scuffles broke out when dozens of national police officers in riot gear blocked a caravan. Police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, some of whom hurled rocks and other objects at officers.

A man opened fire as protesters moved through the city's financial district, but no one was injured.

But Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Tuesday that more than 700 protesters had been detained and one police officer had been killed. Saab said 48 soldiers and police were wounded. Charges against some of those detained include terrorism, he said.

Among those detained was opposition leader Freddy Superano, who was filmed by a passerby on Tuesday as gunmen dragged him from his sports utility vehicle and forced him and two other men into another SUV. Superano and one of the men were seen throwing what appeared to be a cellphone, which was later picked up by their captors.

Long lines began forming in Caracas on Tuesday outside supermarkets and other stores selling food and basic necessities, in an apparent anticipation of prolonged protests that could lead to food shortages.

Monday's demo election The election was one of Venezuela's most peaceful in recent years, reflecting hopes that the country can avoid bloodshed and end 25 years of one-party rule. The winner will rule an economy recovering from collapse and a population hungry for change.

“We have never been motivated by hatred. On the contrary, we have always been victims of those in power,” Maduro said at a nationally televised ceremony. “There is once again an attempt to stage a fascist and counter-revolutionary coup in Venezuela.”

“We already know the film. This time there will be no weaknesses,” he added, saying Venezuela's “laws will be respected.”

During protests on Monday in the port city of La Guaira, people toppled a statue of Maduro's mentor and predecessor, President Hugo Chavez, dragged it into the street and set it on fire. Maduro unveiled the statue in 2017, but by Tuesday all that remained was its base, littered with twisted rebar and broken cement.

Machado told reporters that polling station tally sheets showed Maduro received more than 2.7 million votes and Gonzalez about 6.2 million, while the electoral commission reported that Maduro and Gonzalez received about 5.1 million and more than 4.4 million votes, respectively.

More than nine million people voted on Sunday, according to figures released by National Electoral Council chairman Elvis Amoroso.

The number of eligible voters in this election is estimated at about 17 million. Another 4 million Venezuelans are registered to vote. They live abroad Many did not meet the registration requirements to vote overseas.

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Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman contributed to this report from La Guaira.