The overwhelming evidence is that the opposition in Venezuela won the election

The US Secretary of State said there is “overwhelming evidence” Venezuela’s opposition party won the recent presidential election.

In a statement, Antony Blinken said that it is clear that Edmundo González won the majority of votes – despite former president Nicolás Maduro declaring a unanimous victory.

“Given the overwhelming evidence, it is clear to the United States and, more importantly, to the Venezuelan people that Edmundo González Urrutia won the majority of the vote in Venezuela’s July 28 presidential election,” Mr. Blinken said.

His intervention comes at a time when the presidents of Brazil, Mexico and Colombia have all urged Venezuela to release full details of last Sunday’s election.

Last Sunday, the electoral council, controlled by the government, announced that President Maduro had won the election for a third term.

But this was quickly countered by the opposition who, with access to the majority of electronic voting machine receipts across the country, was false.

The opposition parties themselves said that the votes showed that they had won the election by a large margin. Opinion polls before the election showed that the challenger had clearly won.

Earlier, President Maduro accused foreign governments of interfering in the elections.

He strongly denied the fraud in the election and said that the opposition parties had launched a coup d’état against the result.

The announcement of President Maduro’s victory sparked deadly protests in Caracas.

It has also attracted international criticism, with many governments around the world demanding that the Venezuelan government release evidence to that effect.

The result was recognized by Venezuela’s allies China, Russia and Iran.

But, the US, the European Union and other G7 countries have asked President Maduro’s government to release detailed voting data.

Writing on social media, Mr Blinken said: “Electoral data show the will of the Venezuelan people in a surprising way: Edmundo González, the candidate for democracy, won the majority of votes in Sunday’s elections.

“The people of Venezuela voted, and their votes must be counted.”

Mr. Blinken’s intervention is significant. After the last election in 2018 was widely dismissed as free and unfaircountries including the US have decided to recognize the former leader of the opposition at the time Juan Guaido as interim president and impose sanctions on Venezuela.

Mr. Blinken said “it is time for the Venezuelan parties to start negotiations for a respectful, peaceful transition in accordance with the Venezuelan electoral law and the wishes of the Venezuelan people”.

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Diana Mondino shared Mr Blinken’s view, writing in a send to Xpreviously Twitter: “We can all confirm, without doubt, that the official winner and President-elect is Edmundo González.”

Ecuador, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Peru also recognized Mr. González as president-elect.

However, the governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico demanded “unbiased verification” of the result, urging Venezuela to publish the voting data compiled by polling stations in a joint statement.

Opposition leader María Corina Machado, who says she is in hiding, called for mass protests on Saturday.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Ms. Machado said that Mr. Maduro did not win the election.

He said the candidate from his party, Mr. Gonzalez, won with flying colors and Ms. Machado said he could prove this because he had receipts from more than 80% of the polling stations.

Ms. Machado appealed for help, saying that it is now up to the international community whether to tolerate what she calls an illegal government.