US officials voice 'serious concerns' over contested Venezuelan election results

Following an election clouded by irregularities, the Biden administration on Monday called on Venezuela's electoral authority to release detailed polling data to support its claim that the country's autocratic leader Nicolas Maduro has secured a third six-year term -- a contested outcome that could have significant ramifications for the region and fuel debate over immigration in the run-up to the U.S. presidential election.

"We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a news conference in Tokyo.

"It's critical that every vote be counted fairly and transparently that election officials immediately share information with the opposition and independent observers without delay," he continued.

Despite challenges from Maduro's political opposition and unanswered questions from South American officials acting as impartial observers, Venezuela's electoral council, which is aligned with Maduro's regime, formalized the results of the vote, effectively handing the ruler another six-year term.

Maduro has responded with defiance.

"We have always been victims of the powerful," Maduro asserted during a nationally televised ceremony on Monday. "An attempt is being made to impose a coup d'état in Venezuela again of a fascist and counterrevolutionary nature."

María Corina Machado, the opposition popular leader, asserted that, despite Maduro's claims, her party's candidate had won an "overwhelming" victory and that the reported polling results were "impossible."

In the weeks preceding the election, the prospect of Maduro clinging to power has stoked fears of increased economic turmoil and political violence that experts say could spark another exodus from the country.

Almost 8 million Venezuelans -- roughly a quarter of the country's population -- have left the country over the last decade, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency.

That diaspora has exacerbated irregular migration to the U.S. In 2023, border patrol agents encountered Venezuelan migrants attempting to enter through the southern border nearly 335,000 times, data from the Department of Homeland Security shows.

The Biden administration has attempted to curb the number of crossings through multiple initiatives, including by introducing a new policy allowing Venezuelans to apply for entry to the U.S. from abroad, resuming deportations of Venezuelan migrants, and even using diplomatic leverage to push Maduro to hold the country's most recent election.

Despite the changes and modest improvements to Venezuela’s economy, data shows that the number of the country’s nationals crossing between checkpoints on the U.S.-Mexico border has remained elevated. Polling conducted by a Venezuelan-based research firm earlier this year found that roughly a quarter of the country’s current population was considering emigrating if Maduro won the election.

Senior Biden administration officials defended their handling of Maduro's government, including using economic incentives to entice Maduro to take steps aimed at moving the country towards democracy.

"That Venezuela did, in fact, hold an election yesterday, which allowed an opposition candidate to be on the ballot and for a voting process to unfold only came about as a result of the calibrations that we've done with our sanctions policy over the last year," one official said.

The driving factors behind Venezuela's immigration crisis are also complicated. A high-ranking State Department official who served under President Donald Trump told the Washington Post he warned the former administration that imposing hardline sanctions would "grind the Venezuelan economy into dust & have huge human consequences, one of which would be out-migration."

The Biden administration has largely kept Trump's economic penalties on Venezuela in place, but it has made some notable carveout, including granting authorizations to select companies permitting them to operate in the country's lucrative oil sector.

In the wake of Maduro's handling of the election, officials indicated that they would not revoke existing sanctions but that they would rethink their approach to Venezuela based on whether the government increases transparency surrounding the election.

"We're watching. The world watching. I won't get ahead of a decision hasn't been made here in terms of consequences. We're going to hold our judgment until we see the actual tabulation of the results," National Security Spokesperson John Kirby said on Monday.