United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that his country has "serious concerns" that the official results declaring Nicolas Maduro the winner of Venezuela's presidential election are not valid.
"We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," Blinken stressed. "It's critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently, that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay, and that the electoral authorities publish the detailed tabulation of votes," he added.
Previously, Venezuela's National Electoral Council claimed that Maduro won the elections with 51.2% of the votes. At the same time, the country's opposition leader Maria Corina Machado rejected the official results and insisted that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won 70% of the vote.
