Nicolas Maduro wins Venezuela’s presidential election after talking of ‘blo0dbath’ if he lost
Khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Nicolas Maduro has emerged as the winner of Venezuela’s presidential election.
Maduro is returning a third time after he warned Venezuelans there would be a ‘bloodbath’ if he lost the election.
He won 51.2 percent of votes cast, while opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia got 44.2 percent, according to the electoral council.
The elated president, 61, told his equally elated supporters at the presidential palace: ‘I can say, before the people of Venezuela and the world, I am Nicolas Maduro Moros, the re-elected president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
‘There will be peace, stability, and justice. Peace and respect for the law.’
The opposition is however kicking. They claim to have got 70 percent of the vote.
The president of Costa Rica, Rodrigo Chaves, described the election result as ‘fraudulent,’ while his Chilean counterpart called it ‘hard to believe.’
The United States of America Secretary of State, Antony Blinken expressed concerns the resuls did not reflect the will of Venezuelans.
Peru recalled its ambassador for consultation over the election results.
Independent polls had predicted Sunday an end to 25 years of ‘Chavismo,’ the populist movement founded by Maduro’s socialist predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chavez.
