Maduro wins third term as Venezuelan president

Venezuela’s authoritarian president, Nicolás Maduro, won a third term, the Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Monday.

Maduro won around 51% of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Edmundo González, who got around 44%, the CNE said.

Ten candidates ran in the presidential election, with several pre-election opinion polls placing González ahead of Maduro, who has been in charge of the South American country for 11 turbulent years.

Before the vote, few observers inside or outside Venezuela expected free and fair elections.

In the run-up to election day, several opposition members were detained and candidates critical of the government were not allowed to run.

A total of around 21.6 million people were able to vote, including those abroad. Elections in Venezuela are won by a simple majority in the first round.

Maduro, who won a second term in the 2018 elections and was widely criticized as undemocratic, has presided over an economic collapse – including hyperinflation, severe shortages of goods and a drop in oil production – that has sent some 7.7 million Venezuelans fleeing. abroad, according to the United States. Nations.

He has also cracked down on the opposition, with UN investigators accusing the government of serious human rights violations, including thousands of murders by security forces.

Maduro was first elected president in April 2013, following the death of his predecessor Hugo Chávez, under whom he served as vice president.

But despite economic turmoil and US-backed attempts to oust him, Maduro managed to remain in power.