CARACAS/MARACAIBO/MARACAY, Venezuela--Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said on Monday the country's opposition has 73.2% of the voting tallies from Sunday's election, allowing it to prove election results it says give it a victory.
The national electoral authority has proclaimed incumbent President Nicolas Maduro the winner of the vote, giving him a third term in office and extending 25 years of socialist party rule. But independent pollsters called that result implausible, and opposition leaders and foreign observers urged the electoral authority to release vote tallies.
The tallies in possession of the opposition showed a total of 2.75 million votes for Maduro and 6.27 million for his rival, former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, Machado said.
The numbers were sharply different to the 5.15 million votes the electoral authority said Maduro had won, compared to 4.45 million for Gonzalez.
Witnesses assigned to observe vote counts have a right to a copy of each voting machine's tally, but the opposition said overnight that some witnesses were blocked from following counts and that at other sites the tallies were not printed. The opposition has long warned about whether the vote would be fair, saying decisions by officials and the arrests of opposition staff were meant to create obstacles.
The electoral authority said just after midnight Maduro had won 51% of the vote. Later it proclaimed Maduro president for 2025 to 2031, adding he had won "the majority of valid votes."
Governments in Washington and elsewhere cast doubt on the results and called for a full tabulation of votes. Independent exit polls pointed to 65% support for Gonzalez and between 14% and 31% backing for Maduro.
At least two people were killed in connection with the vote count or protests - one overnight in the border state of Tachira and another in Maracay on Monday. Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela on Monday, including near the presidential palace in Caracas.
Gonzalez has repeatedly warned against bloodshed. But Maduro, whose 2018 re-election is considered fraudulent by the United States and others, said in evening remarks on state television that paid agitators had assaulted electoral agency offices. "We know how to confront this situation and how to defeat those who are violent," Maduro said.
Jorge Rodriguez, a ruling party lawmaker and Maduro's campaign manager, called for supporters to march in support of the government on Tuesday.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino warned against allowing a repeat of the "terrible situations of 2014, 2017 and 2019." Anti-government protesters took to the streets those years and hundreds were killed.
Machado had called on the country's military to uphold the results of the vote. The armed forces have long supported Maduro and there have been no public signs leaders were breaking from the government.
Machado also called on supporters to gather on Tuesday in front of United Nations offices in Caracas.
Protesters gathered in towns and cities across Venezuela, with the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory saying it had registered 187 protests in 20 states. "We're fed up with this, we want freedom," motorcycle taxi driver Fernando Mejia, 41, said as he marched in Maracay.
The street protests followed earlier "cacerolazo" demonstrations - a traditional Latin American protest in which people bang pots and pans - throughout the country.
