CARACAS: Venezuela’s Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate who was recognized by the United States and others as the actual winner of the 2024 election against Nicolas Maduro, called Saturday for a new vote.
The 76-year-old former diplomat, who is living in exile in Spain, also expressed support for opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado, who wants fresh elections in the oil-rich South American nation.
The announcement could add pressure on Venezuelan authorities — and Washington — to address growing demands for a democratic transition in the country following Maduro’s ouster in January by a US military raid.
Since US forces captured the leftist strongman and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges, Venezuela has been led by his deputy Delcy Rodriguez.
She was elected in the same 2024 vote that the opposition and many nations have dismissed as rigged, but US President Donald Trump’s administration has been content with her remaining in power as she bends to their demands.
