Venezuela's Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, the opposition candidate who was recognized by the United States and others as the actual winner of the 2024 election against Nicolas Maduro, called Saturday for a new vote.
The 76-year-old former diplomat, who is living in exile in Spain, also expressed support for opposition leader and Nobel laureate Maria Corina Machado, who wants fresh elections in the oil-rich South American nation.
The announcement could add pressure on Venezuelan authorities -- and Washington -- to address growing demands for a democratic transition in the country following Maduro's ouster in January by a US military raid.
Since US forces captured the leftist strongman and brought him to New York to face drug trafficking charges, Venezuela has been led by his deputy Delcy Rodriguez.
She was elected in the same 2024 vote that the opposition and many nations have dismissed as rigged, but US President Donald Trump's administration has been content with her remaining in power as she bends to their demands.
"A few days ago in Panama, Maria Corina Machado and Venezuela's democratic forces came together with a single goal: Venezuela's freedom. We stand together, united on the same roadmap toward the same destiny," Gonzalez Urrutia said in a video posted on social media.
"My commitment is to do everything in my power to ensure that mandate becomes real freedom, real democracy."
Machado praised Gonzalez Urrutia on Saturday as "an example of service and dedication to the homeland."
"The free and prosperous Venezuela that is already being reborn, my dear Edmundo, has your name imprinted on its heart," she posted on X.
Machado said Thursday she was determined to negotiate a democratic transition with Rodriguez, and urged the United States to help promote such dialogue "to restore democracy in Venezuela."
Gonzalez Urrutia was a last-minute replacement for Machado in the July 28, 2024 presidential election, after she was declared ineligible.
The opposition said the vote was marred by massive fraud and the movement considers Gonzalez Urrutia the rightful winner.
Maduro was declared the winner by an electoral council that never published detailed polling results.
Exiled Machado is considered a fugitive by the Venezuelan government, which accuses her of calling for military intervention against the country.
