Venezuela opposition claims 73 pct of election votes amid Maduro’s contested victory

Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Monday that the country’s opposition has 73.2 percent of the voting tallies from Sunday’s election, allowing it to prove election results it says give it a victory.

The national electoral authority has proclaimed incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the vote, giving him a third term in office.

But independent pollsters called that result implausible, and opposition leaders and foreign observers had urged the electoral authority to release details of the contested election results.

An opposition source had told Reuters earlier in the day that the opposition would have a significant tally of voting records by the end of the day.

Witnesses assigned to observe vote counts have a right to a copy of each voting machine’s tally under Venezuelan law, but the opposition said overnight that it only had about 40 percent of the records, that some witnesses were blocked from following counts, and that at other sites the tallies were not printed.

Separately, an opposition adviser said on social media that security forces were trying to enter the Argentine embassy in Caracas where he and five others have been living since March after warrants were issued for their arrests.

Another adviser at the embassy said that there were cars outside the building.

“We’re moving to democracy, 25 years are enough. It’s simply time for them to go,” Machado’s campaign chief, Magalli Meda, said in a video message recorded at sunset in Caracas. She is also among those at the Argentine embassy.

Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela on Monday after Maduro claimed victory in the tense weekend election. During the afternoon crowds appeared in urban streets, as well as outside electoral authority offices.

The electoral authority said just after midnight that Maduro had won a third term with 51 percent of the vote, a result that would extend a quarter-century of socialist rule. Later it proclaimed Maduro president for 2025 to 2031, adding he had won “the majority of valid votes.”

But governments in Washington and elsewhere cast doubt on the results and called for a full tabulation of votes.

Independent exit polls pointed to a landslide win for the opposition following enthusiastic shows of support for its presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez and Machado on the campaign trail.

Gonzalez said at the same press conference as Machado that the opposition triumph was irreversible.