Venezuela at a Standstill as Maduro is Declared Winner

Venezuela faced a political standstill Monday after both incumbent President Nicolás Muro and country's main opposition coalition claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election.

Muro considers results of election a settled matter. But opposition candidate Edmundo González told a news conference Monday afternoon that his campaign has proof it needs to show that he was winner of election.

González and opposition leer María Corina Macho told supporters gared outside his campaign hequarters in Caracas that y have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets from Sunday's disputed election, and y show González ahe of Muro.

National Electoral Council, which is loyal to ruling party, said Muro secured 51% of vote while González garnered 44%. electoral body, however, did not release tallies from any machine, promising early Monday only to do so in "coming hours," hampering ability to verify results.

In December, last time Venezuelans were summoned to polls, electoral authorities never released tallies after claiming that more than 10 million voters cast ballots in a referendum over a territorial dispute with Guyana.

Here's what to know about Venezuela's presidential election and what's next:

HOW DOES VOTING WORK?

Venezuelans vote using electronic machines, which record votes and provide every voter a paper receipt that shows candidate of ir choice. Voters are supposed to deposit ir receipt at ballot boxes before exiting polls.
After polls close, each machine prints a tally sheet showing candidates' names and votes y received.

But ruling party wields tight control over voting system, both through a loyal five-member electoral council and a network of longtime local party coordinators who get near unrestricted access to voting centers. Those coordinators, some of whom are responsible for handing out government benefits including subsidized food, have blocked representatives of opposition parties from entering voting centers as allowed by law to witness voting process, vote counting and, crucially, to obtain a copy of machines' final tally sheet.

After Sunday's results were announced, Macho said margin of González's victory was "overwhelming" based on voting tallies it h received from campaign representatives from about 40% of ballot boxes nationwide.

Hours later, National Electoral Council President Elvis Amoroso formally declared Muro as winner, but electoral body's website was down, and it remained unclear when tallies would be available. lack of tallies prompted an independent group of electoral observers to publicly urge entity to release m.

HOW MANY PEOPLE VOTED?

More than 9 million people cast ballots Sunday, according to figures released by Amoroso.
number of eligible voters for this election was estimated to be around 17 million. Anor 4 million Venezuelans are registered to vote, but y live abro and many did not meet requirements to register to cast ballots overseas.

Voters started lining up at some voting centers as early as Saturday evening across country, sharing water, coffee and snacks for several hours.
In months leing up to highly anticipated election, government supporters and opponents alike expressed a desire for government changes, often citing ir deep discontent with a crisis-wrecked economy that does not allow m to afford food and or basic needs, pushing millions to emigrate.

WAS ELECTION FAIR?

A fair presidential election seemed like a possibility last year, when Muro's government agreed to work with U.S.-backed Unitary Platform coalition to improve electoral conditions. But hopes for a level playing field began fing days later, when authorities said opposition's October primary was against law and later began issuing warrants and arresting human rights defenders, journalists and opposition members.
González, a former diplomat, appeared on ballot because Venezuela's top court blocked presidential candidacy of Macho, who swept coalition's primary with more than 90% of support.

Thousands of opposition supporters h agreed to mobilize and assist voters throughout Election Day, and González-Macho campaign was banking on ir efforts to get people to polls to vote as well as to deter government actors from intimidating or coercing voters.
Across country, many of those supporters followed campaign's instructions to remain at polls long after y closed in hopes that ir sheer presence could help minimize any ruling party efforts to deny opposition representatives access to tally sheets.

A U.N.-backed panel investigating human rights violations in Venezuela earlier this year reported that government h increased repression of critics and opponents ahe of election, subjecting targets to detention, surveillance, threats, defamatory campaigns and arbitrary criminal proceedings.

WHAT CAN OPPOSITION DO?

opposition's campaign early Monday asked voters to remain calm and avoid any violent demonstrations, but it did not offer any specific steps it will follow to demonstrate its claim to victory.
" Venezuelans and entire world know what happened," González said in his first remarks.
Later Monday, González said his campaign has proof it needs to show that he was winner of Sunday's election.

González and Macho told reporters y have obtained more than 70% of tally sheets, and y show González ahe of Muro.
"I speak to you with calmness of truth," González said as dozens of supporters gared outside campaign hequarters in capital, Caracas. "I want to tell you… that will expressed yesterday through your vote will be respected… We have in our hands tally sheets that demonstrate our victory."

As y spoke, thousands of demonstrators took to streets to protest what y said was an attempt by Muro to steal election.
In streets near Caracas' largest low-income neighborhood, Petare, demonstrators shouted against government, and some, wearing masks, tore down campaign posters of Muro hung on lampposts. Heavily armed security forces stood just a few blocks away from protest.

"It's going to fall. It's going to fall. This government is going to fall!" shouted some of protesters. Before Amoroso h announced results, some opposition supporters who believed González would be declared winner h begun shouting well-known chat but in past tense.