STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Venezuelans voted for president yesterday.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The electoral authority declared President Nicolas Maduro the winner. Opponents of the socialist leader say they won and were blocked from monitoring the vote count.
INSKEEP: U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken sided with the opposition.
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ANTONY BLINKEN: We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people.
FADEL: During the campaign, opponents mounted a serious challenge to the long-running rule of Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. The political and economic crisis is so serious that in recent years, nearly a quarter of the population has fled.
INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Kahn is covering all this from the Venezuelan City of Caracas. Carrie, welcome back.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Good morning.
INSKEEP: OK, let's start with the official results such as they are.
KAHN: Sure.
INSKEEP: What does the electoral authority say?
KAHN: They say that they have 80% of the vote counted, and Maduro had won 51% to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez's 44%. Right after that declaration, fireworks just lit the sky over downtown Caracas. Maduro then came out, and he spoke. He told a sizable crowd that they all had won against powers attacking Venezuela's dignity.
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PRESIDENT NICOLAS MADURO: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: He didn't mention the U.S. by name, but he said, "they couldn't beat us with sanctions. They couldn't with aggressions or threats, and they never will." Maduro also said the electoral system was hacked by foreign terrorists. But he gave no proof and said he wouldn't name names. And the electoral authorities run by Maduro loyalists have yet to release the entire vote count, but they said they will in, quote, "the coming hours."
INSKEEP: OK. So that is the official view of events. What does the opposition say?
KAHN: They declared victory themselves, and they cried foul, denouncing violations, they said, in hundreds of voting stations. The biggest accusation is that the authorities kicked opposition observers out of those stations and refused to print or even transmit voting tallies.
Edmundo Gonzalez, who was the last-minute candidate for the opposition, said Venezuelans and the entire world know what happened. And Maria Corina Machado, the opposition's most popular leader who was banned from running, called the fraud a gross disregard and violation of popular sovereignty.
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MARIA CORINA MACHADO: (Non-English language spoken).
KAHN: Machado says that according to independent exit polls and the 40% of the votes they've counted, Gonzalez won by a huge margin. She says 70%. And I can just tell you, Steve, that I watched the vote count in one polling place after the polls closed in downtown Caracas. And, of course, this isn't a scientific survey at all. But in that center, the vote for Gonzalez was 85% to Maduro's 12%.
INSKEEP: I'm just trying to think about what happens now, Carrie. There have been multiple elections where the opposition has tried to vote out Maduro's government. Each time, they're told by the government they failed. I covered one of those elections. So what happens now?
KAHN: That is the biggest question. The opposition has called for calm and says they're determined to make sure all votes are counted, but they didn't specify how they're going to do that. In the past, like you said, they called for massive street protests that were put down with violence.
INSKEEP: NPR's Carrie Kahn is in Caracas, Venezuela. Carrie, thanks very much.
KAHN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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