World leaders cast doubt on Maduro’s claim of victory in Venezuelan election

CARACAS, Venezuela — Several countries, including the United States and some Latin American nations, cast doubt on the results of Venezuela’s presidential election on Monday and called for transparency over how votes were counted after President Nicolás Maduro’s electoral council declared him the winner.

“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said in Tokyo on Monday, calling on electoral officials to publish the “detailed tabulation” of votes. “The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly,” he added.

Some Latin American countries — including Colombia, which has friendly ties to Maduro — also expressed skepticism of the results, along with a number of European nations, including Spain and Italy. Russia, China, Iran and Cuba were among those to congratulate Maduro.

Venezuela’s pro-government electoral council said early Monday after partial results that Maduro won 51 percent of the vote to opposition candidate Edmundo González’s 44 percent, despite independent polling suggesting that González won twice as many votes as Maduro. Maduro, an authoritarian socialist, has been in power since 2013, and many blame him for the oil-rich country’s economic collapse and the exodus of millions of citizens, including hundreds of thousands to the United States.

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