Caracas, May 20 (EFE).- The president of the National Electoral Council of Venezuela, Tibisay Lucena, announced Sunday that the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, was re-elected with 5,823,728 votes.
The main opponent, Henri Falcon, received 1,820,552 votes, while the candidate Javier Bertucci received 925,042 votes and Reinaldo Quijada 34,614.
Lucena said that these results have been announced “with 42.6 percent of preliminary results, with 46.01 percent of voter turnout and a projection to 48 percent of participation” and “with a total of 8,603,936 valid votes.”
“We ask all of them and we tell them, the people of Venezuela spoke out and we ask all of them, national and international, to respect the electoral results, to respect the people of Venezuela who voted peacefully,” he said.
She indicated that this was an electoral process “that took place, as the tradition of the people of Venezuela, with great tranquility, with great civility.”
Maduro thanked his supporters after the results were known.
“Thank you for such courage and bravery. Thank you so much for popular conscience. Thanks for overcoming so many aggressions and so many lies, and thanks for choosing me president,” he said, speaking from the balcony of Miraflores Palace.
Shortly before the announcement, Henri Falcon announced Monday that he will not accept the results of the elections because of repeated violations of pre-election agreements by Maduro and demanded that the votes be held again later this year.
“The process has serious questions on our part (…) and without a doubt the process lacks legitimacy and we do not accept this electoral process categorically,” Falcon said at a press conference given before the results were known.
“We do not recognize this electoral process as valid,” he insisted and called for a new election in October.