Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) officially proclaimed Nicolás Maduro president today, after announcing on Sunday night that the Chavista leader, in power since 2013, had won the elections, a result rejected by the opposition.
Nicolás Maduro reacted immediately to the CNE's proclamation, emphasizing that he had achieved the feat of defeating ‘fascism’ in Sunday's elections.
‘Defeating fascism, the devils, the demons, is a historic achievement and our people have done it, our people have done it again,’ emphasized the Chavista leader after receiving the symbolic credentials from the president of the CNE, Elvis Amoroso, which will allow him to govern the country until 2031.
On Sunday evening, the CNE announced that Maduro had been re-elected for a third consecutive term with 51.20 per cent of the vote, ahead of opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who won just under 4.5 million votes (44.2 per cent).
Several countries have already congratulated Maduro on his victory, such as Russia, Nicaragua, Cuba, China and Iran, but democratic countries have shown great concern about the transparency of the elections in Venezuela beyond Portugal, such as Spain and the United States.
