US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition leader, won the elections held in Venezuela last Sunday and called for a transition process to begin for Urrutia to take power.
Washington had demanded at the beginning of the week that the Venezuelan government transparently disclose the ballot records. Previously expressing concerns about the election results, Washington definitively rejected Maduro’s victory this time and officially declared the opposition’s victory. Blinken said, “Given the strong evidence, it is clear that Urrutia was the highest vote-getter in the July 28 Venezuelan presidential election.”
Venezuela’s government-controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Sunday that Maduro won the elections. However, the failure to publish official data on a per-polling-station basis raised doubts about the election results. The Carter Center, which sent 17 observers to monitor the elections, stated that the Venezuelan elections “could not be considered democratic.” Serkan Bayram, head of the Turkey-Venezuela friendship group who participated as an observer from Turkey, said the elections were conducted “transparently.”
The doubts about the election results led to street protests in Venezuela starting from Monday.
The opposition, based on the limited number of ballot records it obtained, claims that González Urrutia won at least 84% of the total votes.
US Secretary of State Blinken, based on the documents presented by the opposition, stated, “It is time for the parties to start discussions on a peaceful and respectful transition process in accordance with Venezuela’s electoral law and the will of the Venezuelan people.”
