The exodus of people leaving Venezuela is expected to intensify after the nation’s electoral agency declared Nicolas Maduro winner of the recent presidential elections.

Opposition parties and international leaders have cast doubt on the veracity of the result saying they would not recognise his victory.

With 80 per cent of votes counted, Maduro had gained 51 per cent of the votes compared to 44 per cent for opposition candidate Edmundo González, giving him an unassailable lead, according to the National Electoral Council (NEC).

Opposition figure María Corina Machado, who Maduro had barred from running amid a series of repressive measures ahead of the election, disputed the results, calling them “impossible” and claiming the opposition had won by a landslide with over 70 per cent of the votes.

“Believe me, what is happening in our country is a huge social movement that will not stop. We are a civic, peaceful movement, and that’s how we will keep working until we make the truth prevail, and it will prevail,” Mr Machado said.

Mr González said the opposition would continue to work until the will of the people was respected.

The contested result has sparked angry reactions internationally, with Chile’s president refusing to recognise Maduro as the victor.

The US Secretary of States Antony Blinken also, expressed doubts about the result.

“We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” he said.

An EU spokesperson said: “The people of Venezuela voted on the future of their country peacefully and in large numbers. Their will must be respected. Ensuring full transparency in the electoral process, including detailed counting of votes and access to voting records at polling stations, is vital.”

China and Russia, however, has welcomed the result.

Maduro accused foreign countries of trying to influence the outcome of the vote.

“This is not the first time that they have tried to violate the peace of the republic,” he told supporters.

With opinion polls suggesting a clear victory for Gonzalez, many Venezuelans had been hoping for a fresh start after a decade of economic freefall, repression, and a burgeoning humanitarian crisis marked by rising hunger and a broken healthcare system.

But observers say the result could trigger a freshy exodus of people from Venezuela.  

Nearly eight million Venezuelans, or one in four of the population, have already left.

Many are faced with dwindling work opportunities and rising hostility in other South American countries.

As a result, increasing numbers are now taking dangerous routes to try to reach the United States.

Australia began taking refugees from Venezuela in 2019.

Venezuela’s problems go back a long way. But, it is President Maduro and Hugo Chávez who are the target of much of the current anger.

When Mr Chávez became president in 1999, he promised, among other things, to drive down Venezuela’s huge levels of inequality.

While he managed to reduce inequality during his time in power, some of the socialist polices he brought in backfired.

His price control policy, aimed at making basic goods more affordable to the poor, meant that many Venezuelan businesses stopped production because they no longer made a profit, eventually resulting in shortages.