CARACAS (AP) — Nicolás Maduro assumed the presidency of Venezuela on Friday for a third term despite credible evidence presented by the opposition that he lost the last elections to his rival Edmundo González.
The Venezuelan leader renewed his term of office until 2031 in a ceremony that started more than an hour earlier than scheduled and which was attended by the majority of regional leaders.
"I swear by Bolívar, by Sucre, by Urdaneta, by Manuela Sáenz, by the eternal memory of our eternal commander Hugo Chávez... I swear it by history, I swear it by my life," Maduro pronounced the oath of office as president, in front of the Assembly's president, Jorge Rodríguez.
What are the doubts about the elections in Venezuela?
An analysis conducted by The Associated Press of the election records in Venezuela released by the opposition shows that their candidate Edmundo González received significantly more votes in the elections than those recognized by the government, casting serious doubts on the official declaration that President Nicolás Maduro won.
The AP processed nearly 24,000 images of electoral records, which represented the results from 79% of the voting machines. Each sheet contained encrypted vote counts in QR codes, which the AP decoded using a program and analyzed, resulting in a total of 10.2 million votes counted.
According to the calculations, González received 6.89 million votes, almost half a million more than the government claims Maduro obtained. The calculations also show that the president received 3.13 million votes from the electoral records that were made public.
As of this date, the Venezuelan government and the institutions controlled by Chavismo that ratified the supposed victory have not shown any evidence, data, or voting records.
Most Western countries do not recognize Maduro’s alleged victory.