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Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has been declared the winner of the presidential election, securing a third term but setting the stage for a high-stakes confrontation with the opposition.
This election in Venezuela was being seen as the toughest challenge to Mr Maduro who has held on to power in the country since the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013.
Exit polls, which are illegal in the country, showed his main opponent Edmundo González, a former diplomat who has the backing of a coalition of opposition parties, had a wide lead over the incumbent.
But there were fears that the result could be tampered with as the last elections in 2018 were widely dismissed as neither free nor fair.
Elvis Amoroso, head of the National Electoral Council, announced that Mr Maduro secured 51 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s election, surpassing opposition Mr Gonzalez, who received 44 per cent.
Mr Amoroso said that the results were based on 80 per cent of voting stations, marking an irreversible trend.
Venezuelans started lining up at voting centres before dawn on Sunday, sharing water, coffee, and snacks as they waited for several hours to cast their ballots.
However, the election has also been marked by a tense atmosphere. Tensions rose outside a polling station in Caracas, where queuing voters clashed as they waited for the doors to open, Reuters news agency said, reflecting the deep divisions within the country.
His opponents are already preparing to dispute the results, sparking a battle that could determine whether Venezuela transitions away from one-party rule.
Despite the official announcement, opposition leaders were celebrating what they perceived as a landslide victory for Mr Gonzalez.
The delay in announcing the results – six hours after the polls closed – suggested internal debate within the government on how to proceed, given the early claims of victory from Mr Maduro's opponents.
The electoral authority, controlled by Mr Maduro loyalists, has yet to release the official tallies from each of the 30,000 polling centres, hampering the opposition's ability to verify the results.
Opposition representatives said that their collected tallies from campaign representatives at 30 per cent of voting centres indicated a strong lead for Mr Gonzalez.
Mr Maduro, seeking a third term, faced his toughest challenge yet from an unexpected opponent.
Mr Gonzalez was a last-minute replacement for opposition powerhouse Maria Corina Machado. Ms Machado was barred from running for office for 15 years by the Mr Maduro-controlled supreme court in April.
After casting his vote, Mr Maduro said that he would recognise the election results and urged other candidates to do the same.
"No one is going to create chaos in Venezuela," he declared.
"I recognise and will recognise the electoral referee, the official announcements, and I will make sure they are recognised."
