Washington, Nov 19 (EFE).- The United States on Tuesday publicly recognized for the first time opposition candidate Edmundo González as Venezuela’s president-elect.
“The Venezuelan people spoke resoundingly on July 28, and made Edmundo Gonzalez the president-elect. Democracy demands respect for the will of the voters,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on X.
Joe Biden’s administration recognized González as winner on Aug. 1 but had so far avoided declaring him “president-elect” of Venezuela.
The National Electoral Council proclaimed the re-election of Nicolás Maduro as president of Venezuela in these elections, but it did not publish the protocol with the disaggregated election results.
The Democratic Unity Platform (PUD), the main opposition coalition in the country, presented about 85% of the electoral protocol, which gave the victory to its candidate, González, who has been in exile in Spain since September, denouncing persecution by the Venezuelan authorities.
This is the first time the United States has used the term “president-elect” to refer to Edmundo González Urrutia, a senior administration official confirmed to EFE.
The Biden administration decided to use this term given Maduro’s imminent inauguration for a third term, scheduled for Jan. 10, 2025.
According to this source, this designation does not imply that the United States recognizes González as Venezuela’s president but emphasizes that it considers him the winner of the elections.
According to this official, the situation is different from 2019, when the first administration of Donald Trump (2017-2021) called the opposition Juan Guaidó “legitimate president.”
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry told EFE that it is “clear” for the United States and other countries and electoral observers that González “had the highest number of votes” and “that makes him president-elect.”
“The Venezuelan people have overwhelmingly and unequivocally expressed their desire for democratic change; the publicly available voting results say so,” he added. EFE
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