CARACAS, Venezuela — President Nicolás Maduro won a second six-year term, extending the rule of his predecessor’s radical leftist movement, in an election the opposition boycotted and the U.S. and other countries said would prove to be a sham.
Even before the ballots were counted, opposition candidate Henri Falcón cried foul, calling for a new vote this year.
Despite an opposition boycott that translated into near-empty voting stations in parts of the country on Sunday, the state electoral board allied with Maduro said less than half of the electorate voted, with 5.8 million people casting ballots for the president as opposed to 1.8 million for his main challenger, Falcón, a leftist former governor and ex-soldier. Falcón had broken with other opposition leaders who called for a boycott.
Maduro, a former bus driver who received his formative political training in Communist Cuba, has led the oil-rich country through its worst economic crisis in history. Venezuelans tell pollsters they are starving, hyperinflation is expected to hit 13,000%, the health-care system is collapsing, and as many as 5,000 people are fleeing the country daily. “I will carry out an economic revolution that will shake the entire world,” Maduro said at his closing campaign rally on Thursday. “I’ll do it whatever the cost, however long it takes. I will dedicate my life to changing the economy of the country.”
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.[1]
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References
- ^ An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com. (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Starbucks restrooms open to all visitors. (www.wsj.com)
- ^ Mueller probe expands to Israeli entrepreneur with UAE ties. (www.wsj.com)