Venezuelan opposition says it has proof its candidate defeated President Maduro in disputed election
As thousands of people demonstrate across Venezuela, opposition candidate Edmundo González has announced that his campaign has the proof it needs to show he won the country’s disputed election whose victory electoral authorities handed to President Nicolás Maduro
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — As thousands of people demonstrated across Venezuela, opposition candidate Edmundo González announced Monday that his campaign has the proof it needs to show he won the country's disputed election in which electoral authorities named President Nicolás Maduro the victor.
González and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado told reporters they have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets from Sunday's election, and they show González with more than double Maduro’s votes. Both called on people, some of whom protested in the hours after Maduro was declared winner, to remain calm and invited them to gather peacefully at 11 a.m. Tuesday to celebrate the results.
“I speak to you with the calmness of the truth,” González said as dozens of supporters cheered outside campaign headquarters in the capital, Caracas. “We have in our hands the tally sheets that demonstrate our categorical and mathematically irreversible victory.”
Their announcement came after the National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s ruling Unites Socialist Party of Venezuela, officially declared him the winner, handing him his third six-year term.
