Venezuela’s election board says incumbent President Nicolas Maduro has been re-elected for a second six-year term. 

Sunday’s election was boycotted by the opposition as the “coronation” of a dictator and condemned by much of the international community.

Maduro, 55, a former bus driver was expected to win despite a deepening crisis that has made food scarce and inflation soar as oil production plummets in one of the world’s once top producers.

Former state governor Henri Falcon was Maduro’s main challenger, but his chances were hurt by the presence of a second anti-Maduro candidate in the race, evangelical pastor Javier Bertucci.

“We do not recognize this electoral process as valid, as true,” Falcon said Sunday. “For us, there were no elections. We have to have new elections in Venezuela.”

Maduro’s victory could trigger more sanctions, including oil sanctions from the U.S. government, and more censure from the European Union and Latin America.

Earlier Sunday, U.S. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said Venezuela’s “so-called elections today are not legitimate.” “The United States stands with democratic nations around the world in support of the Venezuelan people and their sovereign right to elect their representatives through free and fair elections,” she said on Twitter.

Maduro, the self-described “son” of Hugo Chavez, said on Saturday that he is battling a U.S. “imperialist” plot to crush socialism and take over the OPEC nation’s oil wealth.

On Friday, the Trump administration added a key Maduro ally to a growing list of top officials targeted by financial sanctions, accusing socialist party boss Diosdado Cabello of drug trafficking and embezzlement.

Maduro’s opponents say the leftist leader has destroyed Venezuela’s once-wealthy economy and ruthlessly crushed dissent. Polls also show Venezuelans overwhelmingly blame Maduro for their mounting troubles.

More than one million Venezuelans have left their country in recent years for a better life abroad, while those staying behind wait in line for hours to buy subsidized food and withdraw cash that is almost impossible to find. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Politics