Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed victory in the country's presidential election, sparking criticism from the United States and its allies over the legitimacy of the vote.
The 61-year-old President Maudro has led Venezuela since 2013. His 2018 victory has been widely viewed as illegitimate and he is widely labelled a “dictator”.
A poll by Edison Research, which also polls for the U.S. presidential election, projects Maduro's rival, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, to win with 65% of the vote, to Maduro's 31%.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement shortly after the announcement, expressing “serious concern” that the results “do not reflect the will or vote of the Venezuelan people.”
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado announced opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the “new president-elect” at a joint press conference with him.
“We won and the whole world knows it,” said Machado, who has been barred from running for president.
The results were delayed by several hours, and the National Electoral Commission announced that Maduro had won, but did not release the vote totals.
Blinken's views were echoed by world leaders and influencers, with Elon Musk retweeting the exit poll figures with the caption “What a farce.”
Representatives of Chile, Guatemala, Uruguay, Peru and Costa Rica called for “full transparency” of the electoral process and demanded verifiable figures for the number of votes cast.
Venezuela's allies have expressed some support. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel welcomed the results. China also accepted the outcome and offered its congratulations to Maduro.
Venezuela has long had an uneasy relationship with the United States, which Maduro severed ties with in 2019 after then-President Donald Trump recognized his rival as interim president following a contentious 2018 election.
The country has vast crude oil reserves, some 303 billion barrels, the largest in the world, and plays a key role in the global power structure.
The United States imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil in 2019, but Venezuela was able to evade them with the help of Russia and China.
The two countries also blocked a 2019 UN resolution calling for new elections in Venezuela.
