U.S. expresses "serious concerns" over Maduro victory claim in Venezuela election
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The Venezuelan opposition coalition held a press conference yesterday. Photo: Gaby Oraa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The White House on Monday said it has "serious concerns" about the Venezuelan regime's claims that President Nicolás Maduro won re-election on Sunday.
Why it matters: The election's outcome could reverberate across the region and beyond as Maduro, who has been in office since 2013, has governed over a staggering democratic and economic collapse that has forced nearly 8 million Venezuelans to leave the country in the past decade.
Driving the news: The Maduro-aligned Venezuelan electoral commission, CNE, on Monday formally declared him the winner after announcing on Sunday that he won by 51% of the vote. They said opposition coalition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia received 44% of the vote.
- But polls consistently showed González well ahead of Maduro and the CNE has yet to release any vote tabulations.
- The opposition coalition has also claimed victory, saying González won by a landslide.
What they're saying: "Quite frankly, we have serious concerns that the result as announced does not reflect the will and the votes of the Venezuelan people," White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby said in a briefing with reporters on Monday.
- Kirby called on electoral authorities to publicly release the tabulation of votes.
- "We're going to hold judgment until that time. We in the international community are watching, and we will respond accordingly."
- Kirby wouldn't say what actions the U.S. would take in the event the Venezuela election was a sham, as the opposition is claiming.
The other side: Maduro says foreign enemies tried to hack the voting system, per AP.
- He claimed the unidentified enemies have tried to "violate the peace" in the past.
Flashback: The U.S. last year brokered a deal with the Maduro regime to hold primary elections for the opposition and fair presidential elections in exchange for loosening U.S. oil and gas sanctions.
- María Corina Machado, a former member of Congress, overwhelmingly won the opposition coalition's primaries in October.
- But the Maduro government suspended the results of the election and eventually barred Machado from running. González Urrutia, a former diplomat, was chosen to run in her place.
- In April, the U.S. reinstated oil sanctions against the country, saying Maduro's government broke promises for a fair election.
What we're watching: Other countries and international organizations are pressuring the CNE to release voting results, but it's unclear whether it will.
Go deeper: Biden pressed by GOP to sanction Venezuela over election results
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