US recognizes Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez as president-elect

Until now, the US and other countries said Gonzalez had won more votes than incumbent leader Nicolas Maduro in the disputed July vote, but stopped short of recognizing him as “president-elect.”

The United States formally recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez as the country’s president-elect following the disputed July 28 presidential election, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Tuesday on X. “The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28 and made Edmundo Gonzalez the president-elect. Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters,” the top US diplomat posted while participating in the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. The announcement marks a significant change in US policy towards Venezuela: up until now, the US and other countries said Gonzalez had won more votes than incumbent leader Nicolas Maduro in July but stopped short of recognizing him as “president-elect.” “It is clear to the United States, to democratic nations around the world, and to independent international organizations that observed the July 28 elections that opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia won the most votes. That makes him the president-elect,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN Tuesday. “The Venezuelan people overwhelmingly and unequivocally expressed their desire for democratic change—the publicly available voting tally sheets say so,” they said. In July, Venezuelan electoral authorities declared Maduro the winner amid widespread allegations of vote rigging. The Venezuelan opposition collected and published hundreds of thousands of vote tallies receipts claiming Gonzalez won with more than 70% of the vote.