Venezuela strongman Nicolas Maduro reelected as president, election authorities say

Nicolás Maduro, the authoritarian leader of Venezuela, has been reelected as president, the country’s election authority has announced, amid allegations of electoral irregularities by the opposition.

With 80% of votes counted, the longtime strongman won more than 51% of the vote, besting the Democratic Unitary Platform (PUD) candidate Edmundo González Urrutia, who gained more than 44%, according to a statement by the National Electoral Council (CNE).

Maduro will hold office for a third consecutive six-year term – representing the continuity of “Chavismo” in power, which started in 1999 at the hands of former president Hugo Chávez. Maduro has been in power since Chávez’s death in 2013.

The vote has come at a crucial moment for Venezuela, an oil-rich nation that experienced the worst economic crash of a peacetime country in recent history. Maduro has blamed foreign sanctions against his regime, saying Venezuela is victim of an “economic war.”

Meanwhile, the opposition — which has been galvanized this election cycle, posing the most significant threat to Maduro’s grip on power in years — had promised to restore Venezuela’s democracy and rebuild the economy if they won.

In the capital Caracas, opposition supporters were seen crying and hugging after the results were announced. Voters had turned out in droves, with many saying they would leave the country if Maduro won — pointing to violent repression and economic collapse under his rule.

Earlier Sunday evening, opposition leaders claimed there were election irregularities — including opposition witnesses being denied access to the CNE headquarters as the authority counted votes, and the CNE allegedly halting data being sent from local polling stations to their central location to prevent more votes from being processed.

Throughout the election process, there have been mounting concerns that the opposition will not see a fair contest, as Maduro’s government controls all public institutions in Venezuela and has been accused of rigging previous votes, which it denied.

After the CNE announced Maduro’s win, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for the authority to publish its vote tabulations, saying it was “vitally important” that every vote is counted “fairly and transparently.”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.