People carry Venezuela's national flag to protest the election results that awarded Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro a third term, in Maracaibo, Venezuela, on July 30, 2024.
REUTERS/Isaac Urrutia/File Photo
The winner of Venezuela’s election was not President Nicolás Maduro but opposition candidate Edmundo González, the US government announced on Thursday, calling for talks to forge a peaceful transition of power.
Based on exit polls from around 90% of the votes from last Sunday's election, opposition leaders say González beat Maduro by a large margin, and international pressure is building against Maduro. On Thursday, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia called on Caracas to release detailed tallies of the vote, and the European Union has said it would not recognize Maduro’s claimed victory without independent certification of the election results.
Still, the US announcement is unlikely to change anything on the streets of Venezuela, where protesters have been demanding Maduro to accept defeat. Demonstrations, which have led to violent clashes with authorities and hundreds of arrests this week, are ongoing.
But Washington's move is likely to spur on the protesters. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, is mulling whether to reintroduce sanctions against Venezuela, despite it being a critical source of oil.