President Nicolas Maduro was declared the winner in a presidential vote on Sunday. The election was marred by irregularities, including officials at some polling places refusing to release paper tallies of the electronic vote count, and reports of fraud and voter intimidation. The announcement of Maduro’s victory created a grim scenario for a country emerging from a severe economic collapse. The government’s results varied significantly from public polls and the opposition’s sample of results obtained directly from voting centers. Opposition leader María Corina Machado called the results “impossible,” and there is a potential for protests and political unrest.
