Maduro Declared Winner In Venezuela's Election As Opposition Claims Irregularities

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner in Venezuela’s presidential election Sunday, even as his opponents were preparing to dispute the results, setting up a high-stakes showdown that will determine whether the South American nation transitions away from one party rule.

Shortly after midnight, the National Electoral Council said Maduro secured 51% of the vote, overcoming opposition candidate Edmundo González, who garnered 44%. It said the results were based on a tally of 80% of voting stations, marking an irreversible trend.

But the electoral authority, which is controlled by Maduro loyalists, didn’t immediately release the official tallies from each of the 15,797 voting centers nationwide, hampering the opposition’s ability to challenge the results after claiming it had the voting acts for only 30% of the ballot boxes.

The delay in announcing results — six hours after polls were supposed to close — indicated a deep debate inside the government about how to proceed after Maduro’s opponents came out early in the evening all but claiming victory.

Opposition representatives said tallies they collected from campaign representatives at the polling stations showed Gonzalez trouncing Maduro.

Maduro, in seeking a third term, faced his toughest challenge yet from the unlikeliest of opponents in Gonzalez: a retired diplomat who was unknown to voters before being tapped in April as a last-minute stand-in for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado.

Opposition leaders were already celebrating, online and outside a few voting centers, what they assured was a landslide victory for González.

“I’m so happy,” said Merling Fernández, a 31-year-old bank employee, as a representative for the opposition campaign