Tokyo, Jul 29 (IANS): Raising "serious concerns" about Nicolas Maduro winning the Venezuelan presidential election once again, the United States on Monday said that the result "does not reflect the will or the votes" of the Venezuelan people.
Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE) announced on Monday that Maduro has won the presidential election for the third time and will govern the country from 2025 to 2031.
"We've seen the announcement just a short while ago by the Venezuelan electoral commission. We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Tokyo.
"It's critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that the electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes. The international community is watching this very closely and will respond accordingly," he added.
Blinken's comments came right in the middle of a media conference which was being addressed jointly by India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Japanese Foreign Minister Kamikawa Yoko following a meeting of the Quad foreign ministers.
"If my colleagues will indulge me for just one minute, I want to speak quickly to the elections that just took place in Venezuela. We applaud the Venezuelan people for their participation in the July 28th presidential election. We commend their courage and commitment to democracy in the face of repression and in the face of adversity.
Maduro received 5,150,092 votes, representing 51.2 per cent of the counted votes, according to the CNE.
Opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, from the Unitary Platform coalition, received 4,445,978 votes, or 44.2 per cent of the votes.
Maduro was running against nine presidential candidates. Of all the candidates, Edmundo Gonzalez, a retired diplomat, was seen as a significant challenge to Maduro.
More than 21.6 million Venezuelans voted to choose President Nicolas Maduro from among the 10 presidential candidates.