Introduction: Venezuelans anxiously

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP)

Venezuelans are anxiously awaiting the results of Sunday’s
presidential election, which will end 25 years of one-party rule.
President Nicolas Maduro faces his toughest challenge yet from

An opponent who does not want a third term:

retired diplomat
Edmundo Gonzalez, who was unknown to voters until his latest bid against
Maria Corina’s opposition force in April. Machado.

Opposition leaders were already celebrating Gonzalez’s landslide
victory online and in front of some polling stations. Their hopes were
boosted after exit polls showed Gonzalez securing a comfortable victory.

Venezuelan law does not allow election polls.
“I’m very happy,” Merling Fernandez, a 31-year-old bank employee
and opposition campaign spokesman, said as he emerged from a

polling station in a working-class Caracas neighborhood to announce
Gonzalez Maduro’s double victory. Number of votes. Dozens of
spectators spontaneously sang the National Anthem.

“This is the path to a new Venezuela,”

Fernandez said,
fighting back tears. “We are all tired of this yoke.”
However, Maduro’s supporters are not giving up.

“We can’t get results, but we can show our face,” Maduro’s
campaign chief, Jorge Rodriguez, told a news conference.
Elections were announced to begin at 6 p.m. But more than

three hours after the deadline, some polling stations in Caracas remained
open and officials remained silent. The opposition parties demanded
that the National Electoral Council start counting the votes.

“This is a defining moment,” Machado, standing by Gonzalez,
told reporters at his campaign headquarters.
Machado was careful not to declare victory before officials

announced the results, but said he had already received a copy
of the official ballots, which showed record turnout.
Those were exactly the numbers the opposition needed to defeat Mr.

Maduro’s electoral machine.
González expressed similar optimism, wishing the Venezuelan
people a “historic” day and urging supporters to “celebrate peacefully.”

Kamala Harris, the Vice President of the United States,
had previously supported him. “The United States stands with the
Venezuelan people who spoke in today’s historic presidential election,”

Harris wrote to X. “The will of the Venezuelan people must be respected.”
Several Maduro supporters were also confident.
“The ballot box reflects what has been said in the streets in recent months,”

President Maduro’s son and lawmaker Nicolas Maduro Guerra said on
Program X. “This is a victory for the Venezuelan people.”