Maduro wins third term, Venezuela electoral authority says, despite exit polls

By: asiaone.com

Jul 29 2024
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Maduro wins third term, Venezuela electoral authority says, despite exit polls — Maduro wins third term, Venezu

CARACAS — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has won a third term with 51 per cent of the vote, the country's electoral authority said just after midnight on July 29, with 80 per cent of ballot boxes counted.

The result announced by the authority came despite multiple exit polls which pointed to an opposition win.

The authority said opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 44 per cent of the vote, though the opposition had earlier said it had "reasons to celebrate" and asked supporters to continue monitoring vote counts.

"The results cannot be hidden. The country has peacefully chosen a change," Gonzalez said in a post on X at around 11pm local time, before the results were announced.

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado reiterated a call for the country's military to uphold the results of the vote.

"A message for the military. The people of Venezuela have spoken: they don't want Maduro," she said earlier on X. "It is time to put yourselves on the right side of history. You have a chance and it's now."