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full screen Opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia. Archive image. Photo: Ivan Reyes/AP/TT
The United States sees opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuela’s rightful president.
Foreign Minister Antony Blinken gives this message four months after the elections in Venezuela, where incumbent President Nicolás Maduro was declared the winner by the government-loyal electoral authority.
“The Venezuelan people spoke clearly on July 28 and appointed (González Urrutia) as elected president,” writes Blinken on X and continues:
“Democracy requires that the voice of the people be respected”.
According to the official results announced after the election, Maduro’s authoritarian rule secured another six years in power, with just over half of the vote. But the result has been questioned by large parts of the outside world.
The domestic opposition has presented its own polling station survey which is said to show that González Urrutia did in fact win the election with about two-thirds of the vote. The opposition leader himself was forced to flee to Spain in September after being threatened by the regime.