Venezuelans vote in highly charged election amid fraud worries

Officials delayed the release of detailed vote tallies from Sunday’s election after proclaiming Maduro the winner with 51% of the vote, compared with 44% for retired diplomat Edmundo González.

Both the incumbent president Nicolas Maduro and opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez claim to have won the popular vote in Venezuela

Senior US officials, briefing reporters on Sunday's election, sharpened Washington's response to the disputed vote, in which Venezuela's electoral authority declared Maduro had won a third term but independent exit polls pointed to a landslide opposition win.

But speaking to the Guardian, María Corina Machado, the charismatic conservative who is the driving force behind Maduro’s opponent in Sunday’s election, urged the president to come to terms with the end of his 11-year rule during which Venezuela fell into a devastating economic and humanitarian crisis that has forced millions to flee abroad.