US recognises Venezuela opposition candidate as president-elect months after disputed election

The US government recognised Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as "president-elect" of the South American country on Tuesday, months after President Nicolas Maduro claimed to have won the July contest.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognised Gonzalez in a post on X in which he also demanded "respect for the will" of Venezuelan voters.

The administration of US President Joe Biden had previously said Gonzalez had earned the most votes in the disputed July 28 election but had fallen short of acknowledging him as president-elect.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, had declared Maduro the election winner hours after polls closed. Unlike previous presidential elections, electoral authorities did not provide detailed vote counts.

But the opposition coalition collected tally sheets from 80 per cent of the nation's electronic voting machines and posted them online. Gonzalez and opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the voting records showed the former diplomat won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.

"We deeply appreciate the recognition of the sovereign will of all Venezuelans," Gonzalez said in a post on X shortly after Blinken's statement on Tuesday. "This gesture honours the desire for change of our people and the civic feat that we carried out together on July 28."

Gonzalez left Venezuela in September for exile in Spain after a warrant was issued for his arrest in connection with an investigation into the publishing of the vote tally sheets.

The centralised press office of Venezuela's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AP.

Maduro and electoral authorities have rejected repeated calls from the US, the European Union, Colombia, Brazil and other nations to show the detailed vote records that back up the president's re-election.

Swift condemnation after the election over the lack of transparency prompted Maduro to ask Venezuela's Supreme Tribunal of Justice, whose members are aligned with the ruling party, to audit the results. The high court reaffirmed his victory.

Experts from the United Nations and the US-based Carter Center, which observed the election at the invitation of Maduro's government, determined the results announced by electoral authorities lacked credibility. The UN experts stopped short of validating the opposition's claim to victory but said the faction's voting records published online appear to exhibit all of the original security features.

Earlier in the week, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro, who has friendly relations with Maduro, reversed his support for the July elections, calling the vote a "mistake".

Petro spoke in an interview with Brazilian news outlet Globo News, which released excerpts online that Petro's office shared Tuesday on social media. Petro told the news outlet Monday while visiting Brazil for the G20 summit that he initially was in favour of Venezuela holding the elections, but that he later decided that the vote was not "free".

"I think the elections were a mistake," Petro said. His office did not immediately respond to a request for him to elaborate on the reasons for his change of heart.

Venezuela's next presidential term begins January 10.

Maduro has already accepted an invitation from the ruling party-controlled National Assembly for a swearing-in ceremony.