President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner of Venezuela’s election Sunday in a poll rejected as invalid by his rivals, who called for fresh elections to be held later this year. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, Maduro had 67.7 percent of the vote, with his main rival Henri Falcon taking 21.2 percent, the National Election Council chief Tibisay Lucena announced.
The disputed victory is likely to heightened international pressure on Maduro as voter turnout was the lowest in a presidential race since the start of the country’s leftist revolution two decades ago.
Maduro also said that if he won the election, he would seek an understanding with his opponents on a way forward for the crisis-wracked country. “I’m going to stubbornly and obsessively insist in dialogue for peace,” he said.
Hyperinflation, food and medicine shortages, rising crime and broken water, power and transportation networks have sparked violent unrest, and left Maduro with a 75 percent disapproval rating.
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the South American country in a mass exodus in recent years.
