U.S. recognizes opposition candidate González as winner of Venezuela's election

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- The United States on Thursday night recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner of Venezuela's recent presidential election, as the Biden administration plies pressure upon the South American country's authoritarian leader to start peaceful transition talks.

"Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, most importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes in Venezuela's July 28 presidential election," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement .

Electoral data overwhelmingly demonstrate the will of the Venezuelan people: democratic opposition candidate @EdmundoGU won the most votes in Sunday's election. Venezuelans have voted, and their votes must count.— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 2, 2024

The election was held Sunday. Venezuela's state-run election commission widely known as CNE was quick to declare President Nicolas Maduro victor to a third term in office.

After the election results were announced, Maduro claimed victory and González rejected the results. Pro-democracy protests have erupted nationwide, resulting in 711 arrests and 11 deaths, according to the Foro Penal human rights group.

The CNE and Maduro have yet to provide proof of the election results, while the opposition has published more than 80% of the tally sheets it received directly from polling stations that Blinken said indicate González was elected president "by an insurmountable margin."

Many nations have come out in support of González with the United States being the most significant powerbroker. However, it stopped short of recognizing González as president of Venezuela as the former Trump administration had of former opposition leader Juan Guaido following the Caribbean nation's presidential election of 2019, after which the U.S. led a failed attempt to oust Maduro.

The Carter Center said Tuesday that the election "did not meet international standards of electoral integrity and cannot be considered democratic."

On Wednesday, the Organization of American States, a multilateral regional body of of 34 member countries, including both the United States and Venezuela, published a 22-page report that states figures presented by CNE contain "arithmetical errors" and that the events of the election night "confirm the existence of a coordinated strategy, which has been unfolding over the last few months, to undermine the integrity of the electoral process."

"The evidence denotes an attempt by the regime to disregard the will of the majority expressed at the ballot box by millions of Venezuelan men and women," the report stated.

"The regime of Nicolas Maduro has once again betrayed the Venezuelan people, claiming to respect the will of the people while doing everything possible to manipulate and disregard that will."

Heading into the election, there was cause to worry about its outcome as opposition politicians had been arrested and disqualified from running and Maduro had withdrawn an invitation to European Union election observers.

Human Rights Watch described the election as being "severely marred."

Despite the obstacles, the election was widely viewed at the best chance to unseat Maduro, who has led the country since Hugo Chavez died in 2013. His re-election in 2018 was also met with domestic and international condemnation for being illegitimate.

"Now is the time for the Venezuelan parties to begin discussions on a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people," Blinken said in the statement.

"We fully support the process of re-establishing democratic norms in Venezuela and stand ready to consider ways to bolster it jointly with our international partners."